Mass. Gov. Charlie Baker Warned Hiking Gas Prices A ‘Financial Boondoggle’

Gov. Charlie Baker said it is too early to predict how many states would have to drop out of the Transportation and Climate Initiative before it will no longer make sense to implement.

“I think we’re way too early to make predictions about stuff like that at this point,” Baker told reporters at the Statehouse on Monday. “We have 11 states that are at the table and involved in these conversations in a pretty serious way.”

TCI is a regional initiative to institute a cap and trade system on transportation emissions.

A cap would be set on the total amount of carbon dioxide that can be released from vehicles using transportation fuels, and fuel wholesalers have to buy “allowances” for every ton of carbon dioxide their fuel will produce.

The initiative would raise the price of gas while lowering greenhouse gas emissions. [There is no evidence that this would lower CO2 emissions and is based on the idea that people will drive ‘less’ if gas prices are too high. History has shown that this is not the case. –CCD Editor]

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, already said New Hampshire will not participate. He called it a “financial boondoggle.”

There remains uncertainty about whether Vermont will commit.

Baker, a Republican, said he has a “tremendous amount of respect” for Sununu. “I disagree with him on this one,” Baker said.

Baker said he still thinks TCI is the best way to adhere to Massachusetts’ statutory mandate to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and New Hampshire represents a small percentage of the value of the involved states.

“Obviously, states need to decide whether or not they want to participate on their own,” he said.

Baker noted that the regional aspect is important. “The benefit of this is working regionally and working together because, under that scenario, no one state is either competitively advantaged or disadvantaged relative to the others,” Baker said.

Read more at Mass Live