To solve the climate crisis, we need bold leadership across the economy, especially in transportation, which is the United States’ number one source of climate pollution. Unfortunately, the Trump administration is heading in reverse by protecting polluters over people and pushing costly and dirty vehicles that make us sick. That’s why today’s announcement from a coalition of 12 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states and Washington, D.C., outlining a state-led plan to slash pollution from the region’s cars and trucks, is so important.
Now this coalition must follow through with a rock-solid commitment to cut harmful transportation pollution at the scale needed to avert the climate crisis, charge polluters for the pollution they create, and steer proceeds to cleaner transportation options for rural, suburban and urban communities.
The coalition of states, known as the Transportation and Climate Initiative or TCI, extends from Virginia to Maine, and has been working for two years to develop a regional policy to provide better, cleaner transportation options for residents of urban, suburban, and rural areas. Such a policy would improve public transit, ensure streets are walkable and bikeable, and deploy clean electric vehicles to make our communities healthier and more livable.
