A Vermont school district is under federal investigation amid allegations that its policies discriminate against girls by allowing biological males to compete in girls’ sports. “These policies jeopardize both the safety and the equal opportunities of women in educational programs and activities,” OCR said in a statement announcing the investigations.
At two public meetings held a week apart, Council members and staff from the Climate Action Office walked through Vermont’s updated Climate Action Plan, introduced a list of “Top 10 Priority Actions,” and discussed next steps — even as the state has already missed its first statutory emissions benchmark and faces mounting costs to reach the next.
The Global Warming Solutions Act money pit deepens!
Two bills sit before the Vermont Senate that would undo the state’s unfolding climate policy disaster. S.110 would repeal the Global Warming Solutions Act’s citizen-suit provision and convert its mandates back to goals. S.68 would repeal the Affordable Heat Act.
First study of wildfire smoke’s effects on children with asthma in the Northeast reveals growing health risks for the region as climate change fuels more smoke-filled summers.
The release of a new digital initiative this week has brought renewed focus to a quiet but growing environmental crisis in Vermont’s most populous county: the salination of local waterways.
Originally introduced at the 1992 Rio Summit, Agenda 21 is an international action plan for sustainable development that aims to address the balance between human activity and environmental sustainability.
Major dairy processors and manufacturers accumulated hundreds of permit violations in 2024 while state regulators emphasize “partnership” over enforcement.
“We can refill the Great Salt Lake,” writes Augustus in a post on X last week.“This month, Rainmaker began the largest cloud seeding project in modern American history. With Utah and Idaho, we are enhancing snowpack across 7,500 square miles of the Bear River Basin.”
New bees bring Vermont’s total to 352 species—more bees than any other northern New England state
Nitrogen is a bit of a conundrum. In its gaseous form it’s the most abundant element in the atmosphere, but few organisms can readily use it. And while all living organisms contain nitrogen, a new University of Vermont study finds that even tiny amounts of nitrogen can fuel cyanobacterial blooms and disrupt lake ecosystems.
What does this portend for Vermont?
Imprecise data muddles turf field debate at Champlain Valley Union
Beechnut production excellent in most of Vermont
A Texas developer’s proposal for a large battery storage system at the former Vermont Yankee nuclear site highlights a sizable list important considerations.
Predatory industrial-scale renewable energy development in Vermont has just reached an all-time low with continued ecological devastation and accompanying rate hikes in queue.
In Vermont, the line between environmental policymaking and courtroom strategy has nearly disappeared. The same advocacy network that helped write the state’s climate and water rules now sues the agencies and farms that follow them—an endless loop of petitions, corrective orders, and consent decrees that leaves little room for either legislators or citizens.
A pair of environmental nonprofits are threatening to sue one of Vermont’s largest dairies for allegedly polluting Dead Creek, a tributary of Lake Champlain — but the dispute could reach far beyond a single Addison County farm. If the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) and Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC) prevail, their interpretation of the Clean Water Act could redefine how nearly every Vermont farm manages its land and water.
The true danger for Vermont lies not in the probability of an earthquake, but in the catastrophic consequences a moderate one could have on the state’s beloved historic brick buildings.
The ultimate destination for these climate-migrating lobsters is north, into the cooler, more stable waters of Canada.
Vermont has both the lowest energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the country. Vermont does not need a greater tax burden. Period.
Signed into law in June 2023, Act 59 sets ambitious goals to conserve 30% of Vermont’s land by 2030 and 50% by 2050. These targets align with the international “30 by 30” initiative but extend Vermont’s commitments even further by setting a 50% benchmark for mid-century.
What are the people to do when a law creates a trap that plunders precious resources and hard earned money and brings harm to Vermonters, all for zero beneficial environmental impact?
Vermont is projected to see warmer temperatures and more precipitation overall, but that precipitation is expected to come in heavier, less frequent bursts.
Low water levels make this September a good time to clean debris out of rivers.
Officials are using the herbicide, ProcellarCOR, which has been used in lakes and ponds such as Lake Fairlee, Lake Morey, and Sunset Lake, to battle the invasive milfoil.
The project, first identified in the 2016 Memphremagog Stormwater Master Plan managed by the Memphremagog Watershed Association, is now known as the Newport City Elementary School Green Schools Initiative. It supports ongoing efforts to meet Lake Memphremagog’s Total Maximum Daily Load requirements for phosphorus reduction and the Tactical Basin Plan workplan for the watershed.
Scientists say the fish are a reliable measure of lake and basin ecological health.
South Carolina Judge latest to dismiss lawsuit similar to Vermont’s.
In the Netherlands, a design group called Why Knot turns knotweed into lightweight, formaldehyde-free building panels. Vermont’s regulatory system is too antiquated to see it as a win-win.
How particulate pollution from tires is worse than from tailpipes, and why this matters.
How changing management methods impact air quality and weather
But there are ways to improve those roads that reduce pollution and strengthen against floods.
“This case demonstrates the problematic nature of the Global Warming Solutions Act’s expansive private right of action provision,” said Vermont’s Secretary of Natural Resources, Julie Moore, in a written statement to VDC yesterday morning.
According to Curt Lindberg, chair of the Waitsfield Conservation Commission, the project spans a cumulative 260 worksites across the region.
While that’s great news for business, it isn’t so great for locals or the environment, which can withstand the impact of overcrowding, pollution, and traffic during peak months.
Our ancestors built covered bridges and stone foundations that lasted centuries. Today’s challenge is no different – to ensure the infrastructure we are currently building lasts, we must build for the climate we’re inheriting, not the one we’ve lost.
The Vermont Climate Superfund Law aimed at holding oil companies financially responsible for flooding and other damages caused by climate change is facing a flurry of litigation that Gov. Phil Scott anticipated when he declined to endorse the measure last year.
But beneath the public “blackboard” narrative lies a deeper and more disturbing story — one of covert military projects, hidden agendas, and atmospheric manipulation without informed consent.
The ISC office in China operates under the supervision of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), an entity linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and designated by both the Trump and Biden administrations as a CCP foreign influence operation.
Believe it or not: yes, they do – but not in the way you might think.
Climate Council remains an expensive, incompetent, very bad joke.
Refuses to enforce stupid, unworkable law.
Vermont Public’s propaganda superficially simplifies a complex issue into ‘the Democrats want climate policy and the Republicans are pushing back’.
Congress has passed a measure to overturn California’s phased-in 2035 ban on the sale of new gas cars.
In conversation over the weekend many Vermonters pointed out that it seems to be rainy every single Saturday! While this may seem like a classic complaint during mid-May, this recent flood in the Mad River Valley certainly triggers memories of floods in Vermont in recent years.
Systems that can deliver reliable power at the scales necessary for robust growth remain anchored in precisely the fuels the transitionists want to abandon.
A House committee recently heard the introduction of seven new bills covering five topics legislators hope to tackle.
State misses emissions goal, despite fossil fuel use and pollution reduction, report says. Lawmakers earlier this month listened to the report.
The bugs have been spotted in 96 out of Vermont’s 247 municipal areas, the state says
Are offshore wind turbines for the birds?
Desperate calls for Scott to delay unrealistic, logistically impossible GWSA requirements with Executive Order.
If there’s any benefit at all, it doesn’t get back to the people paying the bills.
Action on these measures keeps Vermont at the forefront of climate action while avoiding the pitfalls of unfunded mandates, including those that leave space for unnecessary and counter-productive legal challenges.
In an effort to provide a perspective from people who are not part of the choir and are not engaging with you, I endeavor to channel what you might hear, if you could find a way.
A vote to repeal the Clean Heat Standard will be held in the Vermont Senate this afternoon. The vote will be close and Lt. Gov. John Rodgers has said he will cast the tie-breaking vote in favor of repeal.
A supporter says the timber industry feels encouraged by order; a critic says it’s just red meat for Trump’s base.
It’s not the governor’s fault your ridiculous plans are collapsing.
The EPA says 600 nanograms is safe. Vermont closes classrooms at 100. What do they know that the rest of the country doesn’t?
Impacts on low-income Vermonters “will be ignored.”
Part II of an open letter to Vermont legislators
Shelburne Farms is experimenting with a charcoal-like material known as biochar in its dairy operations as part of reaching a net-zero emissions goal.
Program continues in its mission despite attacks and uncertainty.
Maybe it’s not about carbon at all.
Maybe it’s about keeping the system alive—no matter how expensive, ineffective, or ungrateful it becomes.
The revisited hidden costs of Vermont’s Plastic Bag Ban, and how this hurts Vermont’s environment.
Guy Crosby collects plastic waste from farms and brings them to a landfill in New Hampshire, where they are compacted into a bale.
Bill obliterated in four hours of critical testimony; passes committees anyway.
We have ALWAYS adapted to our ever-changing climate throughout history and must continue to do so.
Vermonters deserve to know if politicians are using manipulation and rhetoric to push unpopular, expensive agendas.
Lawmakers’ arrogance, stubbornness, and fiscal irresponsibility on full display with H.125
EVENT TODAY! There is a rally at the State House 12-1 pm calling on the legislature to REPEAL ACT 18.
Vermonters expected quick action in 2025 to wipe Act 18 (the Clean Heat Standard law) from the books. That has not happened.
Sales of gasoline and diesel fuel for transportation may have actually increased, a state report says.
Either pass laws that will meet GWSA mandates or repeal the mandates.
A Senate bill to control road salt pollution notably exempts VTrans from the bill’s requirements while asking municipalities and private businesses to comply.
CDC: “While the current public health risk is low, CDC is watching the situation carefully and working with states to monitor people with animal exposures.”
The goal is to reduce the environmental impact of road salt while also aiming to save money for municipalities and contractors by optimizing salt usage.
“I’m gonna flap my arms and fly over the Statehouse dome. And if I should fail, I will punch myself in the face.” That is the essence of Vermont’s Global Warming Solutions Act.
Getting hearings so early represents progress compared to how the issues raised by these bills were downplayed or ignored last session under the Supermajority.
Climate mandates account for $30-$40K additional cost per unit, are chasing away construction workers.
Staggeringly, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP, 2020) reported that this translates to roughly 3 million masks being disposed of every minute.
Engineers’ recommendations revolve largely around the construction of two new bridges on Main Street across tributaries of the Winooski River.
CHS may have flatlined, but we’re still stuck with the GWSA mandates.
A reflection on our age of carbon indulgences
The mandate controls what cars are available, but not which cars consumers actually will buy. By 2035 the only cars available in VT would be EVs.
Part 3: PUC report lays bare why Clean Heat Standard is totally unworkable.
Reps. Jim Harrison (R-Chittenden), Jed Lipsky (I-Stowe), and Kristi Morris (D-Springfield) cosponsored the bill, H.52
Fuel spill stirs response Wells River Village and state officials are monitoring a 600-gallon fuel oil spill near the village’s public water source.
PUC rules account for just the first ten years of a 25-year program, which will get progressively more expensive as time goes by.
“It’s not a fundamentally wrong program, we just don’t think it’s a good fit for Vermont”, said Commissioner McNamara.
EU “deindustrialization” pummels economic growth.
The federally funded ‘all-solar’ initiative (more on that in an upcoming story by Paul Bean) comprises about 10% of that figure.
California has withdrawn one zero emissions truck proposal, but the other – which Vermont is connected to – is still in force.
The LA Dept. of Water and Power aggressively touts sustainability, solar, EVs, hydrogen, and its pursuit of “100% clean power.” Did it ignore wildfire risk?
Clean Heat Standard repeal kicked over to Committee controlled by those who made it law in the first place.
All sides expect President-elect Donald Trump to try to revoke states’ authority to adopt California’s strict rules on carbon emitted by vehicles.
This new Board is a reorganization of the Natural Resources Board, the organization responsible for the administration of Act 250, Vermont’s land use and development law.
Time to repeal this unelected, worse than useless committee.
Despite all of the proposed Clean Heat Standard’s issues that have bubbled to the surface, some members of Vermont’s Climate Council refuse to let go.
The Global Warming Solutions Act, the Clean Heat Standard, and the 100% Renewable Electricity laws are taking us into a cul-de-sac of energy poverty.
