Could Coronavirus Spur Massachusetts To Transform Its Transportation System? WGBH Public Radio/Boston, MA, April 28, 2020. Bob Seay: “In the past, she said, federal policy has been all about moving as many people as quickly as possible, and that's why federal transportation policy has historically favored building highways. About 80 percent of federal dollars has gone to new highway construction, while only 20 percent has been spent on public transit."

Our air is making us sick. The answer is to make polluters pay. NJ.com/Newark, NJ (opinion), April 8, 2020. Ed Potosnak: “For too long, NJ Transit has failed to get people where they want to go – when they want to get there due to a lack of funding, mismanagement, and a steady decrease in engineers and staff under the Christie Administration. These problems in the nation’s third-largest public transportation system led to a disconcerting pattern of unreliability -- with delays and cancellations being all too commonplace."

In Chelsea, the deadly consequences of air pollution The Boston Globe/Boston, MA, April 29, 2020. Yvonne Abraham: “The conditions that make folks in Chelsea more vulnerable to COVID-19 also leave them more susceptible to the impacts of climate change: Surviving heat waves, food shortages, flooding, and virulent diseases requires resources too few of them have. It’s time the rest of us got more serious about changing that. They’ve suffered enough."  

Transportation and Climate Initiative moves ahead amid pandemic uncertainty Energy News Network, April 9, 2020. Lisa Prevost: “The draft modeling predicted the program would result in an average of 10,000 new jobs per year at a 25% reduction cap. 'I think that wasn’t getting the attention that it’s going to get now,' Cherolis said. 'You can already kind of see it at the federal level where they’re talking about a $2 trillion infrastructure program. The opportunity in this crisis will be in building a sustainable and resilient infrastructure that doesn’t just put people back to work but builds a transportation system that doesn’t grease the skids to climate catastrophe.'"

Coronavirus Got Rid of Smog. Can Electric Cars Do So Permanently? Wall Street Journal, April 10, 2020. Dan Neil: “VW Group is all-in. The company has committed $50 billion to electrification, including new vehicle platforms and battery factories, like the one under construction in Tennessee. Meanwhile, technical development of IC platforms and powertrains has all but stopped. What you are seeing on dealer lots now is effectively obsolete. With the bottom falling out of the market, legacy car makers don’t need help defending the rump of a failing business model. They need help selling EVs."

State Official Says Mass. Climate Goals Remain On Schedule Despite Pandemic WBUR Public Radio/Boston, MA, April 22, 2020. Bruce Gellerman: “'The investments we’re thinking about making in TCI reduce the impacts of climate change but also really improve the air from a public health standpoint,' Theoharides says. She adds that TCI could raise billions of dollars to fund clean energy projects and jump start the economy. 'I think there’s a real role for stimulating the economy with things that also benefit the climate and protect our health,' she says." 

Emissions Drop Nearly 40% During COVID-19 Pandemic CT News Junkie/Connecticut. April 20, 2020. Christine Stuart: “Jordan Stutt, carbon programs director for the Acadia Center, an environmental advocacy group, said this pandemic is in 'no way a silver lining.' He said clean air is great, but we shouldn’t be dependent on an economic shutdown for people in Hartford, New London, New Haven, and Bridgeport to breathe clean air."

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