TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

We all should be doing everything possible to mitigate activities that contribute to climate change and the escalating climate crisis. The Transportation and Climate Initiative is a common sense, proven effective approach to this monumental problem that can make a real difference to the future health of our environment. There's no reason not to take this action unless all we care about is the profits of a handful of people.

I want to see a move away from the big oil companies. I want our transportation and other energies to be as clean as possible. We must protect our environment in a preemptive way. In my opinion doing this by 2030 isn't soon enough.

BP America is happy to provide the attached letter as our input to the TCI draft memorandum of understanding.

Local, state, and regional governments have been tacking a major source of greenhouse gas pollution: power plants. Now it's time to do the same for transportation. To protect God's creation, we must take bold steps to rapidly reduce carbon dioxide release from the burning of oil for transportation by instituting a cap and trade program. Proceeds from sale by states of those permits could then be invested in clean alternatives like electric vehicles and charging infrastructure, public transportation, walking and biking projects, and other smart growth initiatives, speeding up the must needed transition to a clean, equitable, 21st century transportation system.

A recent analysis by the Georgetown Climate Center found that investing $3 billion annually in the Northeast states to reduce vehicle GHG emissions would
+ Save thousands of lives in the region in 2030
+ Create more than 113,000 jobs in D.C. and Maryland through 2030
+ Put $11.81 billion in D.C. and Marylanders pockets through 2030

My primary forms of transportation are mass-transit, bike, and a battery electric car. We need to encourage others to make similar transitions and a cap and trade program is one of the best mechanisms.

I encourage you to make a firm commitment to adopt a regional transportation policy that achieves a minimum 40 percent reduction in transportation sector climate pollution by 2030, to keep us on track to meet the climate goals updated by the General Assembly in 2016.

As a public health professional, I urge you to support the Transportation & Climate Initiative. These measures will have dramatic health benefits, and will make our communities safer and move livable.

I strongly support efforts to rapidly, steeply cap fossil fuel emissions and invest in low- and no-carbon and methane transportation infrastructure in the region. We need to make a massive transition rapidly to a region that is more walkable; is more accessible to and safer for bikes; has accessible, affordable (even no-cost at the point of service) public transportation such as rail; and subsidizes and provides infrastructure (Eg, charging stations) for electric cars, so long as the grid they plug into does not itself use fossil fuels.

I am writing to express strong support for the Transportation and Climate Initiative and to urge the adoption of the strongest possible cap on transportation carbon emissions. The climate crisis demands that we take swift, strong action to decarbonize our economy, and with transportation now the number one source of greenhouse gases in the region and around the United States, we need to begin now. I further urge the adoption of a cap with the utmost of integrity. Cost-containment measures should not result in an increase in the overall emissions cap and the use of offsets should be strictly limited to ensure that the program achieves its main mission of promoting cleaner transportation in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Finally, allowance revenue generated under TCI should be reinvested so as to accelerate the transition to a cleaner transportation system. States should not be permitted to use allowance revenues to fill gaps in road spending or to facilitate highway construction.

With sea level rise, increases in extreme precipitation and other impacts of climate change already beginning to appear in our region, we have the opportunity to lead and provide other regions with a shining example of leadership. By adopting a strong regional cap with integrity, and investing revenue from the program into clean transportation services and technologies, the TCI states can demonstrate to the rest of the country and the rest of the world that decarbonizing the transportation sector is possible.

Strongly support this initiative. As the owner of two fully electric cars, I am trying to make a difference and this initiative is good.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback. Comments are included in the attached document.