Hartford, CT – Today, Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin joined Save the Sound, members of the Connecticut TCI Coalition (representing nearly 100 advocates and supporters), businesses, and healthcare professionals at Union Station in Hartford to call on the Connecticut General Assembly to reconvene for a special session to pass the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) legislation this month.
The urgency of passing TCI has been starkly illustrated this summer by a series of devastating storms, the IPCC’s most recent climate report, and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s announcement that our state is not on track to meet statutory emissions targets .
Senate and House leadership of the Connecticut General Assembly have signaled that they would return for a September special session, but have yet to commit to TCI an agenda item.
Charles Rothenberger, climate and energy attorney at Save the Sound, said: “CT DEEP’s recent Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report underscores that our legislative leaders cannot continue to abdicate their responsibility to address our worsening climate crisis and our state’s failure to meet its own commitments. They must pass the Transportation and Climate Initiative immediately. TCI will reduce carbon emissions from Connecticut’s largest source of climate pollution, the transportation sector, while investing in healthy, resilient local communities. Inaction is not an option.”
Luke Bronin, Mayor of the City of Hartford, said: “We cannot ignore the urgency of the climate fight, and the Transportation and Climate Initiative helps in two big ways—by helping to drive down emissions over time, and by helping communities across Connecticut invest in greener local infrastructure. I want to thank Save the Sound and the entire coalition for keeping climate action front and center, where it needs to be.”
Paul Vosper, president and chief executive officer of Juice Bar (Oasis Charger Corporation), said: “TCI is a smart piece of legislation that both reduces carbon emissions and particulate pollution, but also uses the money raised to make critical investment in our infrastructure to ensure our state is able to succeed and grow. In the last six months, we have also seen the personal and economic devastation that climate change brings. We need to make these investments today to improve our resiliency, mitigate the effects of climate change, and ensure our economy can succeed in the coming decade. These types of infrastructure investments bring much needed manufacturing and middle-class jobs to the state.”
Kasia Saar, Connecticut chapter climate advocate of the American Academy of Pediatrics and pulmonary pediatric fellow at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, said: “The stance of the American Academy of Pediatrics is clear: our children deserve a healthy, livable planet and inaction would be an injustice to them. Our children rely on us to provide for them now and for their futures—so we need to act and implement change as a state. Passing the Transportation and Climate Initiative will be a right step forward and right step for a positive change for our children and their children so that they can experience those summers outside the way you and I did when we grew up or be able to go outside and not worry about if they can breathe.”
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