Why not just invest the funds in unicorn saddles?

Support dwindles for regional Transportation Climate Initiative

Jan 11, 2020

Opposition is growing around a regional climate compact backed by Gov. Charlie Baker — with officials in nearby New England states knocking the deal as others mull it over.

Governors in New Hampshire, Connecticut and most recently Vermont have already cast a shadow on the Transportation Climate Initiative, which would implement a gas fee to reduce carbon emissions. Officials have estimated the measure would raise gas prices between 5 to 17 cents per gallon in the first year.

“If Vermont and Connecticut follow New Hampshire and withdraw from TCI, and Massachusetts stays in, is it still TCI or just a Massachusetts state gas tax?” MassFiscal Alliance Spokesman Paul Craney told the Herald.

Two organizations are campaigning against the measure in Maine and the House Speaker of Rhode Island has publicly indicated he would not support it.

The Maine Heritage Policy Center opposes the TCI because it’s a “bad deal for Maine,” according to spokesman Jacob Posik. At 17 cents per gallon, the TCI would cost the average family $225 per year, according to Posik.

“Mainers should not be penalized for driving their children to school, going to work or running errands,” Posik said.

Spokeswoman Julie Rabinowitz of Maine People Before Politics argued that that the status quo regulatory and market environment will reduce emissions by 19 percent without any additional incentives, and under the “most aggressive” scenario within the TCI, emissions would be reduced by an additional 6 percent.

“The whole goal of this scheme is to make gas more expensive for consumers so they will drive less or buy an electric car,” Rabinowitz said. “It is outrageous to burden the working poor and people of rural Maine with a huge increase in costs for only a 6 percent change over the status quo.”

Meanwhile, Maine Governor Janet Mills is taking a more centrist approach as she “continues to monitor” the Initiative and will be “appropriately cautious” when considering the issues, a spokeswoman said.

Read the full article at the following weblink:

https://www.unionleader.com/news/environment/support-dwindles-for-r...

Tax drivers to make bicycle-friendly towns and cities

That funding would be critical for Maine to expand electric vehicle use and public transit options, and design pedestrian and bicycle-friendly towns and cities, said Sue Ely, a staff attorney at the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

“We can reinvest those revenues into solutions that can help Mainers drive less,” Ely said. “Mainers are sending $3 billion a year out of state to big oil and gas companies and none of that is being spent on transit, electrification, and bike and pedestrian pathways to transition our transportation system to one that is modern, safer and less polluting.”

Read the full article at the following weblink:

https://www.pressherald.com/2019/12/17/maine-considers-regional-veh...

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Comment by Willem Post on January 12, 2020 at 3:05pm

There are not many people in Vermont and Maine who can afford a $40,000, compact, AWD, gasoline, sedan, or an equivalent EV.

 

However, Mr. Schubert, a recently retired, latte/croissant-type, Vermont businessman, obviously much better off than the average Vermonter, has decided to do some virtue signaling.

 

The compact Tesla Model 3, AWD, would have a range of about 325 miles, the compact gasoline sedan, AWD, about 500 miles

The Tesla Model 3 would cost about $58,000, incl. VT sales tax, destination charge, at home Level-2 charger, etc., the compact gasoline sedan about $30,000

 

NO REDUCTION IN CO2

Several studies have shown, the lifetime CO2 emissions of an all-electric, AWD, compact sedan, such as a Tesla Model 3, is about the same as of a gasoline, AWD, 30 mpg, compact sedan, cradle to grave, both driven 150,000 miles.

 

One has to be a masochist to put up with the winter shortcomings of an EV; shorter range (due to cold weather, use of heater, and use of heated seats), higher kWh/mile, slow uphill on cold days, and much less range, etc.

 

One has to be an economic moron to choose a Tesla Model 3 sedan over a compact gasoline sedan, unless the goal is virtue signaling.

 

Any subsidies for EVs end up in the pockets of people with incomes in excess of $100,000, such as Mr. Schubert. This is GROSSLY unfair to lower-income people (about 60% of the people of Vermont) and Maine, who have to pay these subsidies and cannot afford any virtue-signaling EVs.

 

The travesty of a $7000 federal subsidy for EVs was finally eliminated.

Vermont and Maine should eliminate its EV subsidies as well.

Comment by Willem Post on January 12, 2020 at 2:52pm

Penny,

EVERYTHING will be next

Comment by Penny Gray on January 12, 2020 at 12:28pm

Will heating oil be next?

Comment by Dan McKay on January 12, 2020 at 8:53am

TCI = DOA

 

Maine as Third World Country:

CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power

 

Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.

Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********

(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/

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