Truckers to Raimondo: Listen to RI Businesses on "Problematic" Transportation Climate Initiative
GoLocalProv News Team
Truckers to Raimondo: Listen to RI Businesses on "Problematic" Transportation Climate Initiative
In October 2019, 12 states (Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia) and the District of Columbia committed to release a draft memorandum of understanding (MOU) by the end of December for a regional policy to clean up and modernize transportation through a cap-and-invest approach.
New Hampshire announced this week it would not take part -- and the remaining 11 Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states and District of Columbia that comprise the TCI released a draft MOU on Wednesday outlining the proposed framework of their cap-and-invest program to cut transportation emissions.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST"TCI aims to change behavior and consumption by moving people toward electrification through the imposition of a 'sin tax,'" said RITA President & CEO Chris Maxwell.
“There is no more valuable a partner to the noble cause of conservation, reduced emissions, and efficiency, but we also have a critical task at hand which is to move our nation’s freight. TCI is problematic to us as business owners," said Maxwell. "We will remain vigilant and very cautious as the plan moves forward and urge the Governor to genuinely engage the business community on this matter and the trucking industry will be the first to sit down with her.”
“The Governor chose not to increase fuel and diesel taxes in 2016 in favor of implementing truck-only tolls," added Maxwell. "We hope she acts in the same protective sprit in assessing the impacts of this fuel-based tax.”
Concerns Over TCI
TCI would set a regional cap on the amount of gasoline and diesel emissions allowed, and that number would decrease each year. The cap level will not be announced until the final plan is revealed, but TCI's stated intent is to reduce emissions by up to 25%.
The proceeds from auctioning pollution allowances to "polluters" — estimated at up to $7 billion annually — would be invested into clean transportation options such as public transit or zero-emission vehicles.
“Before we turn the world upside down and forever change our way of life, the true cost-benefit of this program needs to be fully vetted, said Maxwell.
In a letter of comment to the Rhode Office of Energy Resources in November as requested in response to the Draft Regional Policy Proposal by the Transportation Climate Initiative of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, Maxwell expressed concern as to how the “stated goals of TCI can be achieved without major disruptions to business and our state’s essential supply chain” and that the industry “must have access to a readily available, affordable and reliable fuel source.”
Maxwell also expressed concern over how TCI empowers states "to concede taxing authority to unelected bureaucrats, expends over $50 billion for a negligible reduction in greenhouse gases, and, in the case of trucking, attempts to discourage and punish fossil fuel consumption for non-discretionary use of highways. "