At the Legislature, VNRC - and Vermont - Wins!

May 2008

When the last gavel fell on the 2008 legislative session, it ushered in a new framework for how the state will steward the water most Vermonters drink and the forests and farms that define Vermont. Legislators also took significant strides forward on saving Vermonters money through energy efficiency initiatives and combating the challenge of climate change with a renewed commitment to hammering out the programs that will help Vermont meet its energy needs and generate green, renewable supplies. 

The Legislature passed and, VNRC anticipates, the Governor is poised to sign: 

•    S.304 — A bill to protect Vermont’s groundwater for current and future generations by regulating large-scale water withdrawals and putting public interest in the resource before private by declaring it a public trust. Read a summary of the bill here.

•    S.311 — A bill to strengthen and build upon one of Vermont’s most successful forest and farmland conservation tools — the Current Use Program. Read a summary of the bill here.

•   S.350 — A bill that moves Vermont a small, but important step closer to reducing the state’s global warming pollution and generating clean, green, independent renewable energy supplies. Read a summary of the bill here.

•   Earlier in the legislative session, the Legislature passed — and the Governor signed into law — S.209, a bill that will help jumpstart renewable energy development in Vermont and help make leaky, older homes more fuel efficient. Read a short summary of S.209 here.

Other good legislation moved this session, too. A measure to set up a forestry viability program, including a study of whether it would be wise to certify Vermont's state forest land as sustainably managed, passed. A bill that beefs up enforcement of environmental laws passed, and funding for VHCB, originally slated to be cut by the Governor, was restored and passed.  

Overall, this legislative session offered significant advances in conservation, environmental and energy policy. We hope you will celebrate these gains, and join us in looking to the future to continue the good, hard work to meet the environmental and community development challenges  facing Vermont in the 21st century. Thanks again!

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