Welcome back to the Climate Dispatch!
As we near the end of policy crossover week in Montpelier, there is a lot in flux and a lot at stake. What remains clear is that Vermonters overwhelmingly support climate action. This week, there were three back-to-back legislative lobby days. Vermont businesses leaders, public health professionals, and hundreds of young Vermonters came to the State House to express their opposition to rolling back climate action and instead continuing to make essential progress. H.289, a bill to gut the Global Warming Solutions Act and the Renewable Energy Standard got its first walk-through in committee, highlighting the very real threat of rollbacks.
Today, the Senate Natural Resources Committee voted to advance S.65 which will enable Vermont’s efficiency utilities to expand beyond their electric efficiency focus to helping cut climate pollution and reduce energy burdens. Unfortunately, alongside that exciting provision, the committee also voted to remove the current statutory language around the Clean Heat Standard because they knew that policy was not moving forward in its current form. They did, however, maintain some key provisions, including a fuel dealer registry. A confluence of factors – Gov. Scott’s ongoing resistance to climate policy, a disinformation campaign funded by Big Oil, and the growing need for more work to shape a program that delivers what’s best for Vermonters – have led to this moment. The work on a performance standard and other essential policy solutions will remain critical and urgent. We will keep at it (and we hope you will too!) and will keep you posted as these efforts evolve at the State House.
Today’s Episode
On today’s episode, Johanna Miller and Lauren Hierl from VNRC break down the latest State House activity and where we go from here as we head into the second half of the legislative session.
Call to Action
As federal efforts to eviscerate climate, clean energy, and environmental protections ramp up, it’s more important than ever to maintain state and local climate progress. Please email your State Senator(s) and thank them for supporting evolving the mandate of Vermont’s efficiency utilities to focus more on greenhouse gas reductions and energy equity. In challenging financial times, we need to as much as possible to leverage existing resources to continue to make cost-saving, climate progress.
Thank you for ALL you do!
Johanna Miller & Lauren Hierl, Vermont Natural Resources Council
Dan Fingas, Vermont Conservation Voters (in absentia)