Retail Fuels Industry Urges Policymakers to Work More Closely with Retail Fuels Industry on TCI Draft Model Rule
NATSO, along with the National Association of Convenience Stores and the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America urged policymakers to work more closely with the retail fuels industry to strengthen the regional Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) Draft Model Rule so that climate change policies are more consumer-focused and better able to achieve meaningful environmental benefits.
In May 7 comments submitted to Kathleen Theoharides, Chair of the Transportation and Climate Initiative, the groups said that TCI’s misunderstanding of fuel markets will limit the program’s effectiveness; will disproportionately harm low-income communities; and create undesirable economic consequences that will jeopardize the economic recovery of low-income Americans from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The associations are encouraged by policymakers who take seriously the threat of climate change and craft policy designed to mitigate this threat for all Americans,” the groups said in the public comments. “We have been active, productive participants in these discussions. As proposed, however, TCI’s Draft Model Rule suffers from multiple flaws that will limit its ability to achieve its environmental objectives while unintentionally punishing some of the region’s most vulnerable communities.
The associations support sound environmental policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote cleaner air, but do not support unnecessarily doing it “on the backs of those least able to afford it.”
The public comment period on the Transportation and Climate Initiative Draft Model Rule closed May 7.
TCI is a is a multijurisdictional program comprised of a regional collaboration of 13 Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast states and the District of Columbia that seeks to cap and reduce climate pollution.
Legislators in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island are working to pass the legislation needed to implement TCI. These three states, along with the District of Columbia, are the first of the TCI jurisdictions to launch the program. Other Northeastern states have continued to participate in the policy design process.
NATSO, NACS and SIGMA in December urged Northeastern states to refrain from adopting TCI. As currently constructed, the program will result in higher costs without any meaningful environmental benefit.
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