Vermonters support the Transportation & Climate Initiative (TCI) – a bipartisan, regional effort to modernize transportation systems and reduce pollution – and want Gov. Phil Scott to join the compact.
- Of the 353 comments submitted by Vermonters through the Scott administration’s TCI portal between April 2019 and February 2020, more than four out of five comments (83%) support the initiative. In addition to hundreds of citizen submissions, meteorologists, business leaders, and the co-chairs of the Climate Solutions Caucus weighed in to support the program.
- Vermont leaders have published supporting commentary, including:
- TCI is Good for Equity; Jenn Swain, Global Senior Sustainability Manager at Burton, and Jen Kimmich, co-founder and CEO of the Alchemist Brewery
- Time to invest in a transportation climate initiative; Jenn Wood, Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility Board member
- TCI is a nudge in the right direction; Mark Anders, a transportation planner with the Bennington County Regional Commission
- The City of Winooski – one of Vermont’s most diverse municipalities and the Chittenden County community with the lowest median household income – passed a resolution in support of TCI.
- Seventy-five percent of Vermonters expressed support for the TCI concept in a December 2019 poll commissioned by VPIRG and Vermont Conservation Voters.
- At a series of public meetings hosted by the Scott administration in January and February, a large majority of commenters urged the governor to join the compact. Further, Gov. Scott’s appointees made clear that, if Vermont joins TCI, Vermont will receive back more for investments than Vermonters will contribute. And, if Gov. Phil Scott fails to join the compact, that Vermonters will “most likely” pay TCI’s compliance costs without receiving any of its benefits, since either way we’ll almost certainly be importing fuel from fossil fuel companies located in states participating in TCI. Video of the Burlington, Springfield and St. Johnsbury meetings are available.
Taken together, it is clear Vermonters want Gov. Phil Scott to join the Transportation & Climate Initiative when the final TCI Memorandum of Understanding is released later this spring.