Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Vermont at 43 percent of total emissions. Our neighboring states are facing the same problem. So, in 2018 Vermont joined with 12 other eastern states, from Maine to Virginia, and the District of Columbia to design a regional program called the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) to reduce GHG emissions from transportation.
More than 80 people crowded into the Great Room at the Charlotte Senior Center on Monday night to hear from and make suggestions to members of the Legislature’s Climate Solutions Caucus, which is focusing its work on ways to strengthen the economy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
At a meeting at the Charlotte Senior Center Feb. 12, attended by about 25 people, Representative Mike Yantanchka, Tom Hughes of Energy Independent Vermont, Karen LaFayette of the Vermont Low Income Advocacy Council, and Sally Kerschner of the Climate Health Alliance laid out the reasoning behind the carbon pricing bill currently before the Legislature, Senate bill S.284, also known as the ESSEX Plan, and explained how it will work. (ESSEX stands for An Economy Strengthening Strategic Energy Exchange.)