Video and text by Tim Faulkner/ecoRI
News staff
To watch this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM6cXcEZWpw&feature=emb_title
Be prepared for stiff right-wing opposition to the latest effort to curb climate emissions in Rhode Island and across the region.
The multi-state Transportation & Climate Initiative (TCI)
is set to unveil a plan to address the largest source of greenhouse gases in
the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic: the transportation sector. The program’s
details will be announced in a draft memorandum of understanding.
It’s expected that this “cap-and-invest” plan will require distributors of gasoline and on-road diesel fuel, such as fuel terminals, to buy carbon credits to offset their fossil-fuel pollution.
It’s expected that this “cap-and-invest” plan will require distributors of gasoline and on-road diesel fuel, such as fuel terminals, to buy carbon credits to offset their fossil-fuel pollution.
The public comment period
has been open since a draft of the regional
plan was issued in October. A 60-day comment period will be offered for the
Rhode Island program.
Proceeds from the sale
of these allowances will fund incentives and programs for electric vehicles,
low-polluting buses and trucks, and bicycle and pedestrian projects.
The selection process will give consideration to low-income communities, communities of color, people with limited mobility, and those at risk of health and other consequences of the climate crisis.
The selection process will give consideration to low-income communities, communities of color, people with limited mobility, and those at risk of health and other consequences of the climate crisis.
The TCI program emulates
the nine-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) that
requires power plants to buy allowances for exceeding climate-emission limits.
Former Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri, a Republican, joined the accord in 2007. Since 2009, RGGI has accumulated $3.3 billion from auction proceeds.
Rhode Island has received nearly $73 million, most of which has funded energy-efficiency efforts such as a streetlight replacement program. About 20 percent of the proceeds has funded renewable-energy projects.
Former Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri, a Republican, joined the accord in 2007. Since 2009, RGGI has accumulated $3.3 billion from auction proceeds.
Rhode Island has received nearly $73 million, most of which has funded energy-efficiency efforts such as a streetlight replacement program. About 20 percent of the proceeds has funded renewable-energy projects.
Unsurprisingly,
Republican-led groups, conservative media, and organizations with ties to the
fossil-fuel industry are getting out ahead of the planned TCI launch, with
letter-writing campaigns, opinion pieces, and talk-radio blather attacking
efforts to reduce harmful climate emissions.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Here is a related story from Brown University on the source of funding for these types of anti-climate change disinformation campaigns. Spoiler: it's the fossil fuel industry.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Here is a related story from Brown University on the source of funding for these types of anti-climate change disinformation campaigns. Spoiler: it's the fossil fuel industry.
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| After failing to make it in major league baseball, Stenhouse turned his attention to right-wing politics. Society for American Baseball Research. |
Similar anti-TCI
campaigns are happening in Massachusetts and Maine. A group led by former
Maine Gov. Paul LePage is battering the issue.
The Massachusetts Republican Party has made unfavorable remarks about the proposal, as has Boston-based talk-show host Howie Carr.
The Massachusetts Republican Party has made unfavorable remarks about the proposal, as has Boston-based talk-show host Howie Carr.
The American Petroleum Institute,
the largest trade group for the U.S. oil and gas industry, wants the revenue
raised through existing road taxes.
“As proposed, the draft
TCI framework appears to be a regressive tax on commuters and truckers who rely
on their vehicles for their livelihoods,” according to the Consumer Energy Alliance, a fossil-fuel front
group.
Rhode Island’s Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council
(EC4), a 12-member committee of state agency heads, is well aware of the
coordinated opposition.
The day after the
Providence Journal published an opinion piece by
Stenhouse criticizing TCI, EC4 members emphasized the need to be ready with a
convincing message for the public.
The “strategy really
needs to be rock-solid because there is going to be opposition to this,” said
James Boyd, coastal policy planner for the Coastal Resources Management
Council, an EC4 member agency.
Carol Grant,
commissioner of the Office of Energy Resources, noted that legislators and the
public will need to support any bills that authorize Rhode Island to
participate in TCI.
“If we’re going to win
hearts and minds, it’s not just people at the Statehouse,” Grant said. “We have
to kind of win people over generally to the importance of this.”
Terrence Gray, deputy
director for environmental protection at the Department of Environmental
Management (DEM) and Rhode Island’s TCI representative, urged an emphasis on
the facts, such as the public, health, and economic benefits of injecting money
into projects that curb climate emissions and other air pollutants.
“There’s going to be an
investment program that’s going to be the best use of this money for Rhode
Island,” Gray said. “And that’s going to be a key selling point in terms of
getting public acceptance and political acceptance for the program.”
EC4 chair and DEM
director Janet Coit said the regional approach is best because it gives the
scale necessary to make meaningful emissions reductions.
“We need to have a lot
of options and this could be the mechanism to move faster on that,” she said.
After the expected
announcement on Dec. 17, a final memorandum of understanding (MOU) is planned
to be made public this spring.
Each state will then decide whether to sign the final MOU and participate in the regional program. Once implemented, the initial phase of the TCI program will run from 2022-2032.
Each state will then decide whether to sign the final MOU and participate in the regional program. Once implemented, the initial phase of the TCI program will run from 2022-2032.
