BP, Shell Support Gasoline & Diesel Tax Thru Transportation & Climate Initiative
Last week, BP and Shell, along with the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, Ford, Exelon and the National Grid launched an advocacy campaign known as the Coalition for a Better Business Environment to urge East Coast states from Virginia north to Maine to enact the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI), a regional carbon pricing policy designed to put a price on carbon to reduce emissions from the transportation sector.
Click Here for more information on the tax on gasoline and diesel.
“Our goal is to highlight how putting a price on carbon can help reduce emissions and create jobs,” said Mary Streett, bp’s senior vice president for communications and advocacy. “TCI establishes a carbon price across the transportation sector, fostering growth by improving infrastructure and generating the revenue states need now more than ever.”
The Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI) is a collaboration of 12 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States [including Pennsylvania] and the District of Columbia led by the Georgetown Climate Center.
TCI seeks to improve transportation, develop the clean energy economy, and reduce carbon emissions from the transportation sector. The plan requires wholesale suppliers to purchase carbon allowances via auctions, with the states receiving the proceeds.
Suppliers would be able to buy and sell those credits and pass along any of the cost to motorists.
According to the Boston Globe, gasoline prices from Virginia to Maine could jump as much as 17 cents per gallon.
Unfortunately, TCI falls short on providing additional details on how to implement the program and fails to acknowledge advancements the liquid fuels industry has made to bring cleaner and greener fuels to the market.
