by Alison Despathy

The shocking discussion within Vermont’s House Environment Committee and their recent unanimous agreement to repeal the road rule jurisdiction and Tier 3 of Act 181 stunned Vermonters across the state and has left many in awe at the power of the people. 

For those who were aware of the fundamental flaws in this law, passed over the Governor’s veto in 2024, and the groundswell of authentic grassroots advocacy, it was hard won and warranted. 

Date extensions for implementation would never have resolved the inherent overreach and infringements embedded in Act 181 and Vermonters clearly understood the breach and stepped into the conversation. 

With full consensus in the committee that this was the path forward, as well as the recent letter from Speaker of the House Jill Krowinski offering support, Vermonters are both cautious and hopeful this will come to fruition. 

Key questions are now in play – how will Act 181 shift and what might accompany the repeal?

For many legislators, deep concerns have surfaced over ecologically sensitive areas throughout Vermont that may not have adequate protections. Act 181’s Tier 3 and Road Rule were the intended vehicles to address these deficiencies but due to compromised methodology and mapping, as well as blatant private property issues with rural Vermonters most affected, this is clearly not a viable avenue. 

It is critical to note that Vermonters do tremendous work on conservation. 

“Approximately 1.6 million acres, or approximately 27% of Vermont’s land is permanently conserved through public ownership and conservation easements on private lands, and more than 2.4 million acres are enrolled in Vermont’s Use Value Appraisal program (some of which are also conserved).”

Despite this long-term, diversified, successful collaborative work, forest fragmentation, loss of ecosystems, including habitat connectors, wildlife corridors and ecologically sensitive areas have been brought back to the table to source an alternative to the highly controversial and hopefully now rejected Act 181 approach. Here it is:

Conserve land and protect wildlife by backing off the renewable power mandates.

Like Act 181, the Renewable Energy Standard (RES) was also passed over the Governor’s veto in 2024. For background info and details, look    here, here, and here. 

Originating in the same committee as Act 181, in summary the RES mandates VT is 100% renewable by 2035. This law is both delusional and high risk. 

It will involve the purchase of renewable energy credits (RECs) to essentially hide the fact that Vermont is a cold, northern state, requiring reliable, baseload power and renewables are clearly not this. This REC scam will lead to increased costs for ratepayers and a burden on our small utilities. 

Additionally, the RES mandates that utilities buy a certain amount of power from in-state renewables. Talk about special interest domination of the VT energy market. Vermont has been served up to the renewable energy developer lobby on a silver platter and worse we are paying for their feast.

Unfortunately this is the power of REV (Renewable Energy Vermont), a renewable energy developer trade organization that has wielded unbridled influence over many Democratic legislators in the State House at the expense of Vermont for decades. 

This has to stop, it is a disservice on all levels. 

Already the RES has greatly accelerated the build out of solar projects over expansive acres of Vermont’s agricultural land and forests with more projects on tap and solar developers drooling over the financial opportunities.

Vermonters can expect higher rates and ecological destruction while renewable energy developers offer unreliable, intermittent power and pretend to save the world. 

The RES guarantees the decimation of Vermont’s environment, including prime agriculture land, forests, and swaths of Vermont’s beloved rolling hills, as long as they receive a Certificate of Public Good from the Public Utility Commission (PUC), which they regularly do. 

Not because the PUC desires this destruction but because the Section 248 statute in which they operate, coupled with this recently updated RES, as developed by Renewable Energy Vermont (REV) and the supermajority legislature, drives their decision making. 

A Certificate of Public Good to increase electric rates and literally clear cut forests and demolish farmland is the ultimate oxymoron crushing the heart of what so many love about VT. 

During the RES conversations, Vermonters for a Clean Environment Executive Director Annette Smith offered the only testimony in both the House and Senate on responsible siting of solar projects and the need to keep Vermont’s farmland and forests protected with this aggressive RES in play. 

This was ignored and now Vermont is riddled with solar projects that fragment forests and destroy ecosystems and ecologically sensitive areas –directly antithetical to the stated concerns that led to Act 181. 

Ultimately Democratic leadership chose special interest renewable energy developers over the people and environment of Vermont, instead of ensuring that proper siting guidance was aligned with this newly revised and ruinous Renewable Energy Standard. 

With high hopes for an energy transition, renewable energy developers hijacked a ‘save the world’ message and mass destruction of Vermont’s environment has been unleashed by this industry. 

AI, data centers and energy consumption are soaring, the idea of an energy transition is hard to imagine and really a farce. 

Vermont’s long term goals of efficiency, reduced consumption, conservation and direct support to Vermonters should remain at the forefront, Vermont has done incredible work in these areas 

Numerous examples of renewable energy’s ecological devastation in Vermont are in play. Shaftsbury Solar is the epitome of destruction with its CPG received on Sept.15, 2025. 

This project will wipe out 104 acres of prime agricultural land, rolling hills and mature forest. 

Forests are the home of habitat connectors, wildlife corridors, ecologically sensitive areas and complex ecosystems. This is beyond forest fragmentation and ecological disruption, Shaftsbury Solar brings full blown clear cut extermination. 

Stop and think about the painful hypocrisy here. The same committee concerned about forest fragmentation, wildlife corridors, habitat connectors and ecologically sensitive areas created the law that literally incentivizes this destruction. 

For details on the devastating and perverse industrial solar projects and the criminal renewable energy developers facilitating this annihilation, look here, here and here. 

With warranted concerns about this Shaftsbury Solar decision, PUC Commissioner Margaret Cheney issued a concurring opinion, essentially a plea for help, questioning if this environmental destruction is truly the intention with existing laws governing CPG issuance on industrial solar at the PUC. 

Immediately resolving this issue and siting solar in the right locations (i.e., parking lots, brownfields, landfills, gravel pits, rooftops) instead of on agricultural land and forests would offer the House Environment Committee a solid path to further achieve their intended environmental goals. 

With the updated, aggressive and detrimental RES rolling out, continued massive ecological devastation is a given and will only intensify if siting industrial solar projects is not addressed. 

The House Environment Committee could and should immediately resolve this issue. 

Put solar literally in its place and stop abusing Vermonters with higher electric rates and mass destruction of the environment which brings risks to food security, our local economy and ecosystems in order to serve special interest renewable energy developers. 

But wait, there is more and it’s worse than you can imagine…

Stay tuned for Part 2!