An ambitious regional plan to slash vehicle emissions appears to be running out of gas after Connecticut became the 10th state to back out of the controversial Transportation Climate Initiative.
The program championed by Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker aims to cap carbon pollution by requiring fuel companies that exceed emissions limits to buy permits and would invest the money raised in green transportation and climate-resilient infrastructure.
But support for TCI is waning. Just three states — Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, plus Washington, D.C., — signed the compact in December, down from an initial 13 jurisdictions that expressed interest in the deal when it was first pitched in 2019.
The fuel industry and others have pushed back on the program they say will only increase costs to consumers at the pump. Gas prices would rise by about 5 to 9 cents per gallon when the program takes effect in 2023, state officials have said.
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont — who called the TCI partnership “a win for all of us” when he inked the deal last winter — abandoned the partnership amid state budget negotiations on Friday.
“The leadership was very clear. Really all the leadership — Republicans and Democrats alike — in saying that they didn’t have the votes to get TCI done,” Lamont told NBC Connecticut Friday afternoon.
Connecticut Dems left the door open for a future partnership, but the state’s Speaker of the House, Rep. Matt Ritter, in a press conference Friday said that while he’s open to “talk about it next year,” it would “make a big difference” if more states signed on.
While proponents push back on rhetoric that has colored the deal as a regressive gas tax and highlight the equity opportunities the new revenue would create, the appetite to sign onto TCI has dried up in nearly all Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states that once expressed interest. Many state legislatures have expressed a reluctance to raise taxes as they emerge from the coronavirus pandemic.
It’s unclear what the move means for the future of the multistate partnership that initially sought to cap carbon emissions from Maine to Virginia — and of which Baker has been a staunch supporter.
The Baker administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The deal would have generated an estimated $366 million in annual revenues, with about $160 million going directly to Massachusetts.
The cap-and-invest program takes its cues from a similar compact that has successfully slashed Northeast power plant emissions 40% below 2005 levels without raising average electricity prices.
Paul Diego Craney of Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance said he hopes that day never comes.
“With Gov. Lamont signaling that TCI is dead in Connecticut, this is great news for taxpayers everywhere. It shows that one less state is falling for this regressive gas tax scheme that does not do anything to help the environment and only subsidizes electric vehicles for the affluent,” Craney said.
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Connecticut drops out of TCI compact, Massachusetts among few remaining states - Boston Herald
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