Throughout January and February, Vermont state officials and regional planning commission staff are hosting four public information meetings to discuss the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI), a regional program that would place a cap on emissions from fossil fuel companies and use revenue raised to help participating states invest in cleaner transportation options.
Each meeting will feature a brief overview of TCI and provide more details about the specific proposals in the draft regional Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and the associated modeling results. After the initial presentation, state officials will take questions and hear feedback on the draft MOU.
VNRC and allies have been advocating for Vermont to formally join TCI to enable us to meet our greenhouse gas emission reduction goals while making our transportation system more far-reaching and equitable. We hope you’ll be able to attend one of the meetings to learn more about the program and make your voice heard. Please find the schedule below.
Find TCI talking points and a sample comment letter here. The TCI comment period ends on February 28.
Springfield
February 13, 2020
6:00 – 8:00pm
Selectboard Chambers (3rd floor), Town of Springfield Offices, 96 Main Street, Springfield
Contact: Tom Kennedy tkennedy@swcrpc.org
Burlington
February 20, 2020
6:00 – 8:00pm
Contois Auditorium, Burlington City Hall, 149 Church Street, Burlington,
Contact: Charlie Baker cbaker@ccrpcvt.org
Past meetings:
St. Johnsbury
January 29, 2020
6:00 – 8:00pm
NVDA Conference Room, 36 Eastern Ave, St. Johnsbury
Contact: Doug Morton dmorton@nvda.net
Manchester Center
January 30, 2020
7:00 – 9:00pm
Hunter Room, Manchester Community Library, 138 Cemetery Ave, Manchester Center
Contact: Jim Sullivan jsullivan@bcrcvt.org
Background on TCI
The draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) builds on the TCI program framework released in October. A final MOU is expected in the spring of 2020. At that time, each of the TCI states and the District of Columbia will decide whether to sign the final MOU and participate in the regional program, which could be operational by 2022.
Some helpful resources:
- VNRC’s TCI talking points and sample comment letter
- Draft MOU (released December 17, 2019)
- VNRC’s formal response, along with other Vermont advocates, to the draft MOU
- Vermont TCI website
- Regional TCI website
- Public webinar: Officials from the TCI states and Georgetown University share highlights from the draft MOU and provide an overview of the TCI regional low-carbon transportation policy development process.