[Politico] Governors from several northeastern and mid-Atlantic states may have found a way to reduce pollution from cars and trucks and buck the Trump administration, which is trying to weaken auto emissions standards and gut efforts to curb climate change.Under a regional cap-and-trade plan that a dozen states still are developing, drivers would pay more at the pump through higher prices for gas and diesel. The revenue would be invested in mass transit, electric-vehicle charging and other transportation infrastructure. Republican and Democratic governors and state lawmakers will have to decide whether to back the plan to address the largest source of carbon emissions ‐ and pass on the costs to consumers in what opponents of the proposal are already calling a gas tax.
The coalition of a dozen states and the District of Columbia is hammering out a draft agreement to cap carbon emissions from gasoline and diesel, charging for the emissions and gradually lowering the limit over roughly a decade. The program is modeled on the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which has reduced emissions in the power sector for several of the states mulling the similar program for vehicles.
The states engaged in the plan, called the Transportation and Climate Initiative, are Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, New York, Maine and New Hampshire. Eight are led by Democratic governors; four have Republicans.
As hopes for federal action on climate change remain dim, state officials see the regional approach as a way to have a significant impact in reducing emissions from the transportation sector.
"In the face of continued inaction and all out climate denial from the Trump Administration, regional, cooperative efforts ... are critically important to reduce the pollution that causes climate change and build a robust clean energy economy," said New York Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos in a statement, citing the regional transportation effort, RGGI and the U.S. Climate Alliance.