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Stories tagged with “Vermont”

Climate Progress

Vermont’s “Energy Secession” Movement: 90% Renewables by 2050

By Stephen Lacey on Dec 23, 2011 at 8:37 am

A 5-kW solar system in Roxbury, VT. Photo: Solar Specialists

Vermont is known for its lush Green Mountains, idyllic farm landscapes, and progressive politics. What many people may not realize is that Vermont has a pretty active secessionist movement too.

Vermont isn’t likely to secede from the U.S. But it is undertaking an ambitious renewable energy program that could at least put it on a path toward “energy secession” — developing a road map for procuring 90% of its heat, electricity and fuels from renewables by 2050.

Under Vermont’s new governor, Peter Shumlin, regulators are developing the state’s first comprehensive energy plan in over a decade. And this one is certainly forward-looking.

Vermont currently gets about 25% of its electricity from renewables — mostly biomass and hydro. But officials want to diversify technologies, address under-served markets like heat and fuels, and dramatically improve efficiency in all sectors. The state released its final comprehensive plan for 2011 last week.

Vermont has already embraced a modest transition to renewables, implementing a feed-in tariff in 2009 and developing a renewable energy standard (heat and electricity) of 20% by 2017. This latest plan, which just went through an extensive public commenting period, takes these efforts to the next level.

After Vermont received a devastating surprise pummeling from Hurricane Irene in August, state planners have taken the experience to heart, using it as one of the central drivers in the state’s new energy plan.

In the wake of Tropical Storm Irene, the need to align local, regional, and state policies across agencies and departments to support thoughtful and resilient growth in our downtowns and villages has never been more acute. The Agency of Commerce and Community Development, with the support of the Climate Cabinet, will complete a review of the state’s designation programs in 2012.

Prior to Tropical Storm Irene, the state had already set a goal of 5% reduction in energy usage across state government. Now that the state faces significant infrastructure repair and rebuilding, energy usage in our state buildings is even more central to our planning. The CEP recommends that the state sharpen its focus on efficient buildings while strategically deploying renewable energy systems.

…We recommend the midcentury goal while recognizing that we must pursue our goals responsibly, ensuring overall energy costs for our businesses and residents remain regionally competitive. But we must also act boldly to protect our environment and our economic security.

Kudos to Vermont for considering such a bold vision for the future and taking a real step toward independence.

Health

New Report Finds Vermont Could Save As Much As $1.8 Billion By 2020 From Shifting To Single Payer

By Zaid Jilani on Nov 2, 2011 at 1:20 pm

Yesterday, the Vermont Legislative Joint Fiscal Office and the Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration released a new report estimating the savings the state could experience if it successfully enacts the single payer system it began designing earlier this year.

Using both a low and high estimate, the report concludes that the state would save between $553 million to $1.8 billion by the year 2020 by shifting to a single payer health care system and enacting other reforms along with it. The following chart from the report shows that these savings come from reductions in payer and provider administration, investments, clinical reforms, and fraud reduction:

In May, Gov. Peter Shumlin (D-VT) signed a groundbreaking law that seeks to implement a single payer system. But to enact the system, the state needs a waiver from the Affordable Care Act health reform law. Currently, the federal government will start handing out state waivers in 2017 — three years after Vermont wants to implement its system. Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) has introduced an amendment that would move the waiver date up to 2014. Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Scott Brown (R-MA) have introduced a companion bill in the Senate. President Obama has endorsed the idea of moving the waiver date forward.

NEWS FLASH

Leading Gay Rights Attorney Nominated To Vermont Supreme Court | Yesterday, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin (D) nominated Beth Robinson to be the next justice of the Vermont Supreme Court. In 1999, Robinson represented three same-sex couples in the state supreme court case that led to gay couples being granted the right to enter into civil unions. She went on to lead a Vermont marriage equality group before becoming Shumlin’s general counsel.

Climate Progress

Vermont Governor Shumlin: “There Is Nothing More Important You Can Do on this Planet Than Join this 350 Movement”

By Climate Guest Blogger on Sep 27, 2011 at 5:38 pm

“We will not join the others in the denial, in the pretend, in the ‘let business happen as usual,’ because our kids and our grand kids mean more to us than our own greed. And we’re going to get off oil and move forward as quickly as we know how.”

Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin got the crowd fired up at 350.org’s “Moving Planet” event at the Vermont Statehouse in Montpelier last week.   Shumlin spoke about the recent impacts of global climate change on Vermont, how Vermont has taken a leadership role in doing something about it, and how the state can do even more to overcome this challenge in the future:

Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin at 350.org’s “Moving Planet” event from Ben B on Vimeo.

Vermont was devastated by the 1-in-100 year deluge from Hurricane Irene:

Read more

NEWS FLASH

Vermont Governor Opposes Tar Sands Oil Pipeline | On Friday, Gov. Peter Shumlin (D-VT) joined Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman (R) and former Vice President Al Gore in opposing the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry tar sands oil from Canada across the U.S. to the Gulf Coast. “I oppose the proposed Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline project,” Shumlin said in a letter to 350 Vermont. “We need to find sources that will mitigate the impacts of climate change as much as possible for Vermont and the United States.” You can read the full letter here.

Security

With All Of Its Choppers In Iraq, Vermont Has To Borrow From Other States To Respond To Irene

By Zaid Jilani on Aug 31, 2011 at 5:00 pm

Vermont's Black Hawk helicopters are currently in Iraq.

The aftermath of Hurricane Irene has created not only an estimated $12 billion worth of damage, but it continues to leave many east coast residents without power and access to basic necessities.

In Vermont, where flooding has cut off a dozen towns from the rest of the state and left thousands without access to electricity, the state’s ability to respond to Irene has been hobbled by a previous disaster: the war in Iraq.

The Burlington Free Press reports that the state has had to borrow 10 helicopters total from Illinois and New Hampshire to respond to the disaster because all six of its Black Hawk helicopters are still in Iraq:

Eight helicopters on loan from the Illinois National Guard were expected to arrive Tuesday night in Vermont to help the Vermont National Guard deliver food, medicine, water and other supplies to 13 Vermont towns cut off from the rest of the state in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene. The outside helicopter support is needed because all six of the Vermont Guard’s Black Hawk helicopters are still in Iraq, where they and 55 Vermont soldiers are wrapping up a yearlong hospital transport mission, said Lt. Lloyd Goodrow, spokesman for the Vermont Guard. [...] The New Hampshire National Guard sent over two of its Black Hawk helicopters on Monday. The two were used to transport Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate, Gov. Peter Shumlin, Sen. Bernie Sanders I-Vt., and Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., on a survey of flood-damaged areas in the state.

“We’d be in a very different scenario if they were here,” said Lt. Lloyd Goodrow, a spokesman for the Vermont National Guard, of the six Black Hawk helicopters. The helicopters being used in operations to drop supplies to the dozen towns that have been cut off are smaller than Vermont’s Black Hawks, and deliveries are occurring slowly.

NEWS FLASH

Majority Of Vermonters: State’s Same-Sex Marriage Law Has Not Impacted Our Lives | A new Public Policy Poll finds that support for marriage equality in Vermont has increased since the state began recognizing same-sex unions in September 2009. Fifty-eight percent of residents now say that marriage equality should remain legal, while just 18 percent oppose it. Sixty percent saw no impact on their lives as a result of the law. A poll from April 2009 found that 55 percent of Vermonters supported marriage equality, while 38 percent opposed it. Results from the latest poll:

NEWS FLASH

$750,000: Amount Health Care Industry Spent Lobbying As Vermont Moved Toward Single-Payer | “Hospitals, doctors, drug companies, insurers and others with a stake in health care spent more than $750,000 lobbying at the Vermont Statehouse this year as lawmakers debated landmark legislation designed to put Vermont on the road toward universal health insurance,” the Associated Press is reporting, but notes that “exactly how much was spent on the bill itself is impossible to tell.” In May, Vermont “became the first state to lay the groundwork for single-payer health care.”

LGBT

Vermont Lesbian Couple Sues Reception Venue For Discriminating Due To ‘Personal Feelings’

By Zack Ford on Jul 20, 2011 at 6:00 pm

Kate Baker and Ming Linsley

A Vermont same-sex couple represented by the ACLU is suing the Wildflower Inn for refusing to allow them to have their wedding reception there in blatant violation of the state’s nearly 20-year-old nondiscrimination laws. Under Vermont law, only privately owned inns with five or fewer rooms are exempted from public accommodation protections based on sexual orientation; the Wildflower Inn has 24 rooms. It is also not a religious institution or even a religiously-affiliated business.

Shortly after Kate Baker and Ming Linsley got engaged, Ming’s mother Channie began investigating venues for the wedding and reception. She had an amiable phone call with the Wildflower Inn’s Meeting and Events Director, in which she disclosed there was not a “bride and groom,” but two brides. Shortly after the call, she received an email with the subject “I have bad news”:

After our conversation, I checked in with my Innkeepers and unfortunately due to their personal feelings, they do not host gay receptions at our facility.

Baker and Linsley are not suing for monetary damages, but merely for an injunction against the Inn’s discriminatory practices. The Wildflower Inn responded to the suit this week on its Facebook page:

The Wildflower Inn is a small family owned and operated country inn. We are a devout practicing Catholic family who believes in the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman. We have never refused rooms or dining or employment to gays or lesbians.

Opponents of marriage equality often take umbrage at lawsuits like this one, claiming that the defendants’ religious freedoms are being challenged. Two examples that are commonly referenced are a New Mexico wedding photographer who refused to take pictures of a same-sex wedding and a New Jersey Methodist boardwalk pavilion that refused to host civil union ceremonies; the anti-gay Alliance Defense Fund defended in both cases. In this new suit, Vermont’s laws are quite clear about what constitutes discrimination and as a large public business, Wildflower Inn is out of compliance by this rejection of service.

Kate, Ming, and Channie discuss the suit (PDF) in a video from the ACLU. Watch it:

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