TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

Anyone who has sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic on I-95 in the summer or who lives in rural ME and is sick of forking out money to put gas in their vehicle should welcome the opportunity to decrease traffic, decrease air pollution, and save money. Maine should use TCI as an opportunity to invest in local transportation solutions that help Maine people get to where they need to go in an affordable way that’s good for our environment. It makes no sense to to be polluting our air while sending our dollars out-of-state. What does make sense is pooling our resources with other states to solve our transportation problems.

Maine needs to act now to begin reducing harmful climate-changing emissions, and to develop transportation solutions for people of all ages, abilities, and levels of income, especially in our rural areas. Working together with neighboring states to achieve this is a no-brainer.

I'm proud to live in one of the states that has participated in REGGI. The monies from that program have helped many Mainers transition to more efficient use of energy to heat their homes etc. Now it's time to tackle the transportation issue head on. Let's lead again!!

Yes--bring it on! Non-polluting public transportation. We must do something everyday, however small, to change our climate-ruining habits. We must move away from fossil fuels and petrochemicals. Supporting the TCI is a necessary step in the right direction.

I ride the Concord Bus from Augusta to Boston several times each year. I want the busses to be battery powered like my car. It was a joy
for me to switch over to my EV from driving a fossil fuel burner. It's time to have our public transportation reflect the necessity of keeping fossil fuel in the ground. Let's DO THIS!

Transportation is the leading cause of harmful climate change that we are experiencing now with fire storms in California, more severe hurricanes, and rising sea levels. High levels of carbon dioxide in the air are entering the world's oceans, disrupting life there. As greenhouse gas levels rise to levels never before experienced during the time that humans existed, reputable scientists predict that the world will become hotter and less livable. This is all happening at a time when we humans depend even more on nature to provide the conditions to grow our food and just let us survive. This affects people in the developing world - who tend to live in hotter climates to begin with - even more than us. When conditions become unbearable, they migrate.
As Greta Thurnberg clearly states it's immoral to leave our children and future generations a world severely harmed by global climate change.
Since the cost of clean energy is now less than the cost of fossil fuels, there is no reason not to act.
In the realm of transportation, the solutions are electrification (using electricity from solar and other clean sources) of vehicles and at the same time less reliance on driving alone as our primary form of transportation. Alternatives include walking, bicycling, transit, and car-pooling.
When we reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, reductions in health-harming emissions of sulfur and oxides nitrogen decrease. These and volatile organic compounds (e.g., gasoline) plus sunlight are precursors to low-level ozone which also causes disease, disability, and death.
To realize a better future, governments should promote and build infrastructure that encourages walking, bicycling, and transit use and avoid adding more miles of motor vehicle lanes.
The Transportation and Climate Initiative is a great first steps toward addressing the severe problems of climate change and unhealthy air.

Maryland needs to act based on scientific findings. Those show clearly the importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In the transportation sector, say at least 40% reduction by 2030 would be entirely appropriate. One major way to do that equitably is making public transit more convenient, a boon especially to the families now underserved by our transportation system. But encouraging more Marylanders to take public transit, rather than drive, will lead to a better environment for all of us. Nearly three-quarters of us express support, in a bipartisan way, for limiting our transportation pollution.

One year is not enough time for people to meet the criteria. There is already a Veip Program. How about requiring testing annually vs bi-annually.