Today’s Episode

Today we’re joined by Representative Kate Logan of the Chittenden-16 district to talk about the work underway on S.5, the Affordable Heat Act, in her committee, the House Committee on Environment and Energy. 

One of the major areas of improvement to the policy has been in how it addresses equity and ensures that the majority of the benefits of the program’s design – in particular clean heat measures such as weatherization and heat pumps – will go to low- and moderate-income households. Transitioning to clean energy technology is already happening for those who can afford it, but many Vermonters are experiencing high costs for heating their homes and currently have limited support for moving away from fossil fuels. 

As Representative Logan highlights, Vermont is poised to receive an influx of federal funding to support accessibility of clean energy technology, and this policy would set the stage to direct that funding to those who need it. She and her colleagues on the committee will continue making changes to the policy to ensure that we can deliver a program that ensures a just clean energy transition.

Call to Action

Unfortunately, there continues to be major opposition to this policy from the fossil fuel industry. We know that failing to enact a policy that helps all Vermonters transition away from fossil fuels is only going to continue to perpetuate harm. 

It’s vitally important that representatives are hearing from their constituents about why we need this policy to advance. You can find the members of the House Environment and Energy Committee and their emails here – please reach out and thank them for their work on the Affordable Heat Act. You can also find contact information for your representatives here.