A leading New Jersey environmental group, Clean Water Action, came out with a strong statement urging that state’s governor to reject the Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI), a proposed multi-state pact that would raise the price of gasoline and diesel by 5-17 cents per gallon.

Among the group’s many complaints about the proposal is that it is “racist.”

Stated Maria Lopez Nuñez, Deputy Director, Organizing and Advocacy, Ironbound Community Corporation, “TCI to date has been tone deaf at best and racist at worst.”

Melissa Miles, Executive Director, NJ Environmental Justice Alliance added, “TCI is a regressive gas tax wrapped in an unregulated market mechanism. There are more equitable ways to reduce emissions and generate revenue that don’t put frontline communities at risk.” 

Amy Goldsmith, NJ State Director, Clean Water Action, concluded, “The specific plan on the table in NJ isn’t good enough, and we don’t see any pathway that would make it good enough. That’s why we’re urging fellow advocates and Governor Murphy to say no to TCI in New Jersey.”

TCI is, indeed, a regressive tax that will harm low income, working people, and rural drivers disproportionately. For these reasons TCI is also opposed in Vermont by the ACLU.

To see the NJ groups’ full list of objections to TCI, read their press release HERE.  

- Rob Roper is president of the Ethan Allen Institute.