MA Clean Energy Future Tour Senate Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change

Russell Donnelly

We don’t need to reinvent the wheel or compare ourselves to some climate denying states like Florida.We need at least to match California in percentage of ev cars on the roads if not Norway.We can do that with carrots and sticks.Pass a carbon tax and green debit card rebate system of at least $20 per ton, increasing $10 each year.Make ev cars exempt from turnpike tolls while increasing them for ICEmobiles.Eliminate excise tax on ev cars while increasing excise tax on new ICEmobiles.Eliminate ferry fees for ev cars while increasing them for ICEmobiles.Regarding new residential solar copy Lancaster,Ca.Every new house either has to have a 5 kw array on it or contribute to a solar fund for municipal and low income solar.Every new house either has to use a air-source heat pump or geothermal or contribute to a fund.As part of the building code every garage has to have a 220 volt charging system, and a energy storage system .(See Vermont utility and PowerWalls.)Every time a house changes hands it should either put in solar or contribute to the fund.This is not rocket science.It’s just public policy and recognizing we need to do something.We can meekly beg the Trump regime not to drill offshore to make us independent of foreign oil and gas.Or we can act for ourselves and make our electricity, transportation, and residences independent from fossil fuels.