Maryland Sierra Club Urges Climate Commission to Commit to Clean Transportation
Marylanders are feeling the impacts of a last century transportation system in deeply personal ways. The dangerous pollution that spews out of the tailpipes of the cars we drive induces asthma attacks, contribute to missed school days, and now acts as the #1 contributor of climate disruption that makes weather events like the flooding in Ellicott City more likely. Congested highways cause us to sit in traffic and miss time with the people we care about and many of us lack access to reliable forms of public transportation and safe walking and biking paths. Its clear we need a 21st century transportation system that incentivizes moving people over moving cars.
That’s why dozens of us poured into the the room of the Maryland Commission on Climate Change on June 27th to demand Maryland move forward with a plan to implement a climate-friendly, clean, safe, and equitable transportation system. The Maryland Climate Change Commission was formed in 2015 in part to inform the state’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act Plan mandating Maryland reduce emissions economy-wide 40% by 2030. The plan as it currently stands lacks the robust reductions we need to cut emissions from tailpipes and motor fuels.
Twenty people commented to the Commission and overwhelmingly called on Maryland to work across state lines in a regional policy that limits transportation pollution and creates a dedicated revenue stream to fund clean alternatives. The partnership, called Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI), if designed and implemented in a sound and thoughtful way, would help Maryland meet its climate target while allocating millions of dollars to light and heavy rail, bus rapid transit, walkable and bikable communities, and electric vehicles.
We will need your support to make sure that Maryland hears these goals loud and clear and makes a firm commitment to fighting for the clean transportation future we need.
To get more involved in our transportation work and transportation committee contact Lindsey Mendelson at lindsey.mendelson@mdsierra.org or Brian Ditzler at brian.ditzler@mdsierra.org.