At $8.18 – adding the top Clean Heat Standard fee estimate to the current per/gallon cost of heating oil – filling up a 250 gallon oil tank would cost $2,045.
Report: Clean Heat Standard could add $1000 to filling oil tank
“How will you vote on the ‘Clean Heat’ Carbon Tax?”
This week all legislative and gubernatorial candidates will be asked: “How will you vote on the Clean Heat Standard come January?”
Roper: What IS your cost ceiling for the Clean Heat Carbon Tax, Rep. Sibilia?
A question every Vermonter should demand every candidate answer RIGHT NOW.
Wennberg: How Vermont won the biggest environmental lawsuit in decades
Vermont has been a “California Car” state for many years, along with several of our neighbors.
Vermont, other New England states share $400M in clean energy funds
D.o.E. has selected the Power Up New England proposal to receive up to $389 million from the federal agency’s competitive Grid Innovation Program.
Beck: It isn’t Moderate to crush Vermonters
Clean Heat Standard was designed for the benefit of special interest groups and climate legislators with no understanding of economics, science, or Vermonters.
Clean Heat Standard unworkable, threat to businesses, frustrated fuel dealers tell State
“If you want to get rid of small fuel providers and eliminate the competition, this is an ideal program,” Proctor Gas owner and Vermont Fuel Dealers President Judy Taranovich said.
Roper: Speaker Krowinski feeling the (“Clean”) Heat
Spews misinformation about her Party’s misleadingly named “Affordable Heat Act” fiasco.
Walch: The reality of the Clean Heat Standard
Two maxims that used to be part of investigative journalism have now fallen to the public: (1) do your own research and (2) follow the money.
Dame demands AG defend Vermont against climate change lawsuit
“It’s hard for Vermonters to know if we have an Attorney General who is willing to fight to protect our taxpayers from what could be an expensive lawsuit.”-Dame
Projected savings from EV mandate rely on improved climate, state officials say
California claims climate impacts as a significant component of the predicted economic benefit of the 100% EV mandate, state officials agree.
Roper: Clean Heat Standard comes with $17 BILLION price tag!
Would require $3.20 per gallon carbon tax on home heating fuel.
As $17B cost of Clean Heat Standard becomes news, House Speaker blames Koch Brothers PAC
Vermont emissions are in steady decline. The Legislature’s carbon reductions will cost $17 billion. House Speaker blame the Koch Brothers.
Klar: No, solar panels are not farmland
Government counts solar panel arrays as agricultural lands.
Climate lawyers to sue State for missing carbon goals
“Instead of spending money on Vermont and Vermonters – roads, housing, services – Vermonters money will go to lawyers and Vermont will be forced to pass destructive ‘punish and penalize’ laws as we are currently experiencing,” GWSA opponent Alison Despathy said.
Governor’s office to push electric car deals as flood relief
This means the government is going to use its funds to help purchase Vermonter’s gas vehicles and offer them discounts on electric vehicles, despite some red flags.
Caiazza: Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) falls short
Environmentalist: I conclude that although RGGI has been effective raising revenues it is not an effective CO2 emission reduction program.
Walch: Follow the money to find who benefits from electrification
Even if the grid is working, if people can’t afford paying their electric bill and have no other fuel source as a back-up, they won’t be able to cook or heat.
Monday: Environment and Energy meeting
The bill being considered contains language that would mandate environmental protection and conservation 30% of VT’s land by 2030, and 50% of VT’s land by 2050
Roper: Clean Heat Standard will hurt poor Vermonters on LIHEAP heating assistance
More testimony damns this damnable law.
MacDonald: The emissionary position
If you really want to lower “global emissions”…
Tariff boosted price of Chinese panels three days after SunCommon filed for bankruptcy
Due to the closing of the solar bridge, Vermont’s solar power installation industry must either pay the ‘toll’ at the bridge, or ‘detour’ to another source of solar panels. Either way, the added cost will be reflected in consumer pricing.
MacDonald: Fossil-fuel companies won’t pay for “climate change” – Vermonters will
Fuel companies should stop doing business in Vermont. The State is, after all, in a huge hurry to get to its all-electric, no-fossil-fuel paradise.
Angwin: Stasi come home
The rise of the Informer State.
Vermonters for a Clean Environment Regulatory Affairs Director, John Brabant
John has decades experience working in VT Government, protecting the environment and Vermonters, and then watching it fall into greed and “Green” corruption.
Depleted oil reserves keeping Vermont’s gas prices steady
VT gas prices are noted in the media as being stable, but some sources are not discussing the causes, like that President Biden may be depleting oil reserves.
Grid issues warning after power failure during heat wave
ISO-New England declares a Power Caution when it is concerned it may lack enough reserve power to provide electricity due to an unforeseen power shortage.
MacDonald: Who made Vermont use fossil fuels in the first place?
Vermont citizens will need to come together and agree that whatever the deal may be, their current crop of “leaders” does not have their best interests at heart
Keelan: Could oil and gas deliveries be cut off?
It is too bad Vermont and New York legislators can’t be honest. Their states need money to address years of neglect of their infrastructure.
Despathy: Details matter
Plain and simple, the supermajority chose REV and VPIRG, special interest groups, and their high cost, impulsive Renewable Energy Standard.
Rising interest rates, falling rate subsidy plague SunCommon parent filing for bankruptcy
“These cuts represent the seventh reduction to net metering compensation since 2017, a period that has seen a 32% drop in net metering installations,” Peter Sterling of industry trade group Renewable Energy Vermont said June 5.
Despathy: Advice from a Vermont environmentalist
The RES Series, Part II: The advice of Annette Smith, Executive Director, Vermonters for a Clean Environment (VCE).
Thurston: Vermont’s largest solar company on verge of collapse. Time to rethink energy policy
With iSun filing for bankruptcy, one might wonder if legislators will think twice about overriding the Governor’s veto of H.289.
Despathy: Steamrolling Vermonters one law at a time
The RES Series Part I: The interests of renewable energy industrialists versus those of Vermont and the the environment.
PUC increases installed solar power payout, cuts rate for new projects
Net-metering is the costliest of the State’s renewable energy programs, and that the pace of net-metering installations far exceeds the pace of other less costly renewable energy projects.
‘Recycled’ propane adds no extra carbon emissions when burned as fuel
We’ll have propane “as long as we have elastics in our underwear,” Anderson laughed. “So we should use it.”
No Tesla financing at first VT dealership
The much-touted first Tesla dealership in VT opened in March in South Burlington, but some would-be buyers of its popular EVs still can’t get cars there.
Roper: Gemma destroys the Clean Heat Standard
This gem from Gemma: “My electric bill [plus rent increase] could go up ninety dollars a month…. Now I’m willing to pay a little bit more if it means a cleaner environment. But the reality is I don’t want to pay THAT much more.”
John Rodgers: Energy developers making “giant contributions to political candidates”
Former State Senator John Rodgers noted while on the Morning Drive Radio show Friday the amount of special interests influencing state energy policy.
House leaders pledge to override Scott veto of renewable power bill
The guv’s path to 100% carbon free electricity is cheaper and quicker. The Legislature wants to take the longer, more expensive road, paved with solar farms and wind turbines.
Feds selling emergency gasoline reserve to lower prices for July 4 weekend
A million barrels of gasoline set aside for emergency use in the next disaster will be sold to reduce prices at the pump this summer.
Angwin: The unknowns of offshore wind power
It is clear to me that offshore is not as steady as the pro-wind rhetoric would have you believe.
Roper: The Clean Heat Standard public engagement fiasco
No public show up; person hired to explain the program admits he doesn’t understand it; reveals chaos behind the scenes.
Despathy: Digging into the destructive Clean Heat Standard
While still in the design phase at the Public Utilities Commission, the economic devastation of Act 18 is already hitting home for small fuel dealers.
Roper: The climate crusade that’s bankrupting Vermonters
This week Vermont Senate passed the Renewable Energy Standard bill (H.289) by a vote of 18-8.
Roper: “Clean” heat mess gets even messier
It was neatly summed up by TAG member Christopher Trombly’s revelation, “We’re taxing the poor so that the rich can benefit.”
Hey, Vermont – Africa’s getting clobbered with ‘global warming solutions,’ too
Growing food on a continent where hunger is still a reality for many, an African farmer calls out EU error and hypocrisy for criticizing fossil-fuel fertilizer.
VT’s first Federally funded EV fast chargers now operational
Vermont is the sixth state in the country to install fast chargers under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program.
Every senator who received 2022 VPIRG campaign $$ voted for Superfund bill
Every state senator elected with VPIRG campaign contributions has voted yes on S.259, VPIRG’s Superfund bill.
Roper: Clean Heat Standard too complicated to implement
Nearly a year after passage the most basic concepts around “the plan” remain unaddressed.
Supreme Court says VT Gas pipeline changes needed state OK
The Public Utilities Commission shouldn’t have given Vermont Gas a pass on post-permit changes to its pipeline construction, the Vermont Supreme Court says.
“Existential threat’ of climate change, ratepayer shock won’t save Green River Hydro from state regulators
So what’s really going on here? Why is the State of Vermont willing to flick away a source of affordable, carbon free power that promotes tourism, created a beautiful state park, and even protects loons?
Commodities broker would cause ecological devastation in Shaftsbury
These solar panel fields belong with the same type of construction that they embody, not in the middle of our natural landscapes, an opponent of an industrial solar plan says.
Roper: Left-wing logic: Nothing in Vermont Is affordable, why should energy be?
The bizarre testimony of the Renewable Energy Vermont executive director.
Page: Exchanging tailpipes for smokestacks
The true environmental damage from EV mandates.
Drought drying up Canadian hydro power
Like all renewable energy, hydropower is at the mercy of Mother Nature.
Galfetti: The cost of Renewable Energy Credits
The Floor Report: 03/21/2024.
Roper video: Anti-fossil fuel lobbyist caught on hot mic moment
Behind The Lines columnist Rob Roper comes out from behind the keyboard to expose an anti-fossil fuel lobbyist’s hypocrisy.
Video: the path to 100% carbon free electricity the Legislature is ignoring – again!
Some things never change.
Roper: House passes Renewable Energy Standard amidst cloud of baloney
Sponsoring Rep. deploys word salad to avoid stating truths about the bill.
Klar: Renewables threaten the US power grid
The crisis has regulators scrambling.
PUC seeks comments tonight on McNeil, BED plan
Concerned about Burlington’s McNeil power plant? The state energy court is holding a hearing tonight.
Plug pulled on NEK transmission project?
A transmission corridor bringing Hydro-Quebec power to New England through the Northeast Kingdom appears to have been shelved.
Thurston: Adding insult to insanity
The dark side of H.289, 100% renewable electricity by 2030: when all else fails, Dem’s resort to renewables-shaming
Ehlers: House committee to vote on raising everyone’s electricity rates
The same influential lobby group that wants to remove local control from energy siting also wants ratepayers to pay more to fund the reconstruction of Vermont’s energy grid.
Despathy: House committees ignore billion-dollar cost of Renewable Energy Standard – what is going on?
Two House committees punt on the billion-dollar price-tag of an energy bill rumored to be ‘the Speaker’s bill drafted by a renewable energy lobbying organization.
Checkback on Clean Heat Standard slams 2025 deadline
The Public Utilities Commission ‘checkback’ report resisted by climate hawk supporters of the Clean Heat Standard has been issued – and it’s not good news for them.
Dawson: Meeting VT EV mandates in a high-end market
Sales tips for selling luxury EVs to Vermonters.
Roper: Already the State can’t afford the clean heat standard
No funding to pay people to design the program, let alone run it!
State climate change suit vs. Exxon may continue in state court
A federal judge says Vermont courts are a fitting venue for the State’s lawsuit against Exxon for alleged harmful climate change policies.
Despathy: BTW Vermonters -You are all a bunch of NIMBYs
Renewable Energy Vermont, Sen. White, and industry lawyers like Wilschek are determined to clear the path for their profit-driven renewable energy projects, including removing us “NIMBY” Vermonters.
Smith: Renewable power industry exploits poorest towns
Sen. White has turned this situation upside down. Aesthetics has nothing to do with it. Poor towns have been targeted because they are vulnerable to monetary promises.
Pro-wind energy lawyer decries NIMBYs, backs Senate bill
A utility industry lawyer claims “NIMBYs” (Not In My Backyard) oppposing wind and solar projects have “captured” the energy siting regulatory process with their “self-interested and occasionally irrational opposition.”
New biomass plant planned for NEK
A 2.2 megawatt wood-chip burning plant is proposed for the St. Johnsbury industrial park.
Letter: S.5 data collection may violate right to privacy
Due to the reporting and video, it is clear the State of Vermont is collecting my data directly from fuel companies that I privately buy from.
McCormick: Weatherization crews deserve our respect
The General Assembly (G.A.) cannot enforce us to abandon our cars or oil heaters.
Roper: Clean Heat Standard exploding on the launch pad
A perfect storm of legislative incompetence and bureaucratic bumbling.
Roper: Get ready for $800 million in higher electric costs, just cuz
More ideological virtue signaling with other people’s money.
State climate agenda required to deliver federal $$$, Climate councilor tells legislature
Vermont received $32 million of federal carrots to set carbon reduction goals.
Roper: Stop forcing EVs down our throats
Soviet-style central planning does not work!
Klar: Is a nuclear renaissance on the horizon?
Proponents of climate change action are increasingly coming to terms with the factual reality that renewable energy manufacturing cannot possibly provide the baseload of power the world requires.
Roper: Sen. McCormack: “Am I so out of touch? No, it’s my constituents who are wrong.”
Democrat does his best to paraphrase Principal Skinner.
Miro: Vermont should follow Burlington’s lead
Burlington’s outgoing Mayor lists what he’d like to see Vermont do for energy affordability and climate,
Carbon tax on big Burlington buildings begins Jan.1
This occurs while online pundits note that the Green Mountain State seems to be following closely California’s costly green energy policies.
Fluorescent lightbulb ban begins Jan. 1
Restrictions include the sale of general purpose, indoor/outdoor, residential, and business mercury-containing four-foot linear, compact fluorescent, and twist-based fluorescent lightbulbs.
Consumers thumbs-down on EVs
High cost, poor service, and exorbitant battery replacement costs are among the complaints listed in ‘one star’ reviews.
Roper: VT Climate Council can’t decide which gas/diesel tax it likes best
71 percent of Vermonters oppose any carbon tax/fee/surcharge on gasoline and diesel, 59 percent strongly oppose it. So, lawmakers, how about you listen to your constituents for a change?
McClaughry: China’s nuclear leadership
China is now building 22 of the 58 reactors under construction around the world, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. The country currently operates 55 reactors.
Town rebuffs wind turbine developer
Residents of the Bennington County town of Stamford fought back against an aggressive, well funded-wind tower proposal and won on December 7, when the developer announced it had dropped the project.
High-powered panel to discuss VT energy
The panel features Secretary Julie Moore from the Agency of Natural Resources; Rob Roper, a public policy analyst & writer; Rep. Mark Higley, Orleans – LaMoille; JT Dodge, No Carbon Tax Vermont; Neale F. Lunderville, President Vermont Gas; and Matt Cota, formerly of the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association.
Roper: Report: Clean Heat Standard is “not cost effective”
Even when the books are cooked, the numbers still don’t add up. And our virtue-signaling lawmakers know it.
Despathy: VPIRG is not Vermont’s voice
The “Make Big Oil Pay” hypocrisy.
Carbon tax on buildings goes to Burlington City Council next week
The “fee” would charge non-compliant new and/or large commercial buildings or renovations upfront for the expected lifetime carbon emissions.
Klar: New study suggests EVs are regressive
Counting up the real cost of virtue-car EVs.
Roper: How to pay for administering the carbon tax on home heating fuels? With an excise tax on home heating fuels!
The Public Utilities Commission rubs salt in the wound for struggling Vermonters just trying to stay warm.
Vermonters for Vermont Initiative Townhall on Energy, Nov. 14 in Rutland
A panel of five experts on the topic will discuss Global Warming Solutions Acts, Home heat, Carbon Tax, Fossil Fuels, and the Energy Grid and more.
NEK high-voltage transmission project eligible for federal $$
The proposal utilizes roadway burial and existing transmission corridors in Vermont and New Hampshire to deliver 1,200 MW of Canadian hydro and other non-fossil fuel energy.
Roper: VT Energy Policy: Saving the Planet, or Feathering Nests?
Renewable Energy Standard committee keeps the truth to themselves about favoring special interests, despite concerns and the impacts of their legislation.
Klar: Problems with Underground Carbon Storage
What incentive do companies have to keep the carbon sequestered or monitored? What is to prevent companies from discharging toxic waste as effluent?
McClaughry: Are we done with costly CO2 emissions reductions?
August 25 Speaker Krowinski made it clear that she and her House supermajority want little to do with driving up energy prices paid by Vermonters to defeat climate change.
