Groups Calling for Regional Cap-And-Invest Program to Invest in Modern, Clean Infrastructure and Improving Public Transit React to Proposal for Implementation in Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States and Washington, D.C.

“Our Transportation Future” coalition members – including environmental, health, scientific and business groups – issue sign-on letter supporting Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States’ effort to develop a regional agreement to reduce transportation emissions

Coalition Working to Advance Regional Plan for Clean Transportation Invites News Media to Learn More About Transportation & Climate Initiative, Including Commitments from Nine Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states and Washington, D.C.

The Day, New London, Connecticut

By Amy McLean Salls

As we leave behind the summer fun, send the kids back to school and return to our daily commutes, transportation challenges are front and center. In Connecticut, the core problems of aging infrastructure and congested roads are compounded by air pollution from growing vehicle emissions.

MassLive.com

By Lori Ehrlich and Eric Lesser

Delaware News Journal

Let’s face it: The ways we move people and goods in Delaware are outdated, damaging to public health, congested, under-funded and destructive to our climate.

Transportation now accounts for approximately 40% of carbon pollution in the region — and let’s be clear that air pollution knows no state boundaries. This is why it is critical that Governor Carney has joined with other states in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and the Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI).

RGGI, which addresses the electricity generation sector, has resulted in more than $125 million for Delaware and more than $3 billion for the region in new funding for renewables and energy efficiency.

The new TCI program, modeled after the success of RGGI, targets transportation. It’s designed to limit pollution from motor fuels while creating new funds for clean transportation investments.

Maine launches rebate program for hybrid, electric vehicles, Portland Press Herald, August 30, 2019. “A $5.1 million legal settlement won by Maine against German automaker Volkswagen Group and its affiliates is being used to fund a new statewide rebate program for buyers of hybrid and electric vehicles.  The program, announced Friday by Gov. Janet Mills, will provide rebates of $1,000 to $2,000 on qualifying plug-in hybrid and battery-powered electric vehicles, with higher rebates being offered to low-income households and government entities, including tribal governments. The initiative is called the EV Accelerator Program and is being administered by the quasi-state agency Efficiency Maine Trust.  According to the National Resources Council of Maine, the new rebate can be combined with federal incentives to provide a total of up to $9,500 off the price of a plug-in vehicle in Maine. It said states offering financial incentives have experienced 15 to 25 percent higher sales of plug-in vehicles compared with the national average.

Polling publicly released today from The Nature Conservancy done by the bipartisan pollster team of New Bridge Strategy and Fairbank, Maslin, Maulllin, Metz & Associates shows that three quarters of small town and rural voters in Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states support the creation of a state clean transportation fund. This is significant as transportation improvements and funding are being considered by the jurisdictions participating in the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI). TCI is an effort by policymakers from 12 eastern states and the District of Columbia to design a region-wide policy that would both reduce carbon emissions from transportation and provide improved efficiency of and access to transportation systems.