by Alison Despathy

“Although only a few may originate a policy, we are all able to judge it.”  -Pericles

The destructive nature of the Clean Heat Standard, a.k.a. the ‘Affordable’ Heat Act (Act 18), becomes more apparent everyday. It is well known that this law will favor big companies and encourage monopolies over small Vermont family businesses that will struggle to compete in this carbon credit scheme which results in higher costs for all.  

While still in the design phase at the Public Utilities Commission, the collateral damage and economic devastation of Act 18 is already hitting home for small fuel dealers. 

According to the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association, in the past year about a half dozen small Vermont heating fuel companies sold their businesses to larger entities for a variety of reasons including concerns related to the future viability and economic feasibility of their businesses now that Act 18 is under construction.  

Recently Vermont fuel dealers were struggling because they could not offer the summer prebuy that helps many Vermonters lock into a fuel price in order to receive a savings for their winter heat. Without knowing what the added costs would be as a result of the ‘Affordable’ Heat Act, these plans were on hold. 

Fortunately there has been a temporary solution offered for this winter’s prebuy and companies are in the clear to move forward but this level of uncertainty makes it difficult for a small company to conduct business and the prebuy dilemma for next winter still awaits resolution. 

Understanding the history of the Clean Heat Standard offers key insight into this hideous policy and its negative repercussions if it becomes law next session.  This supermajority ‘punish and penalize’ approach greatly contributes to the affordability crisis and creates a dangerous precedent that should concern all Vermonters. 

During the 2021-2022 biennium, the original Clean Heat Standard came into existence as H.715. It wasn’t pretty, it was a hidden regressive carbon tax that placed a heavy burden and blame on our local fuel dealers and all heating fuel users. 

At this time, heating fuel is still necessary for many to heat their homes and businesses through the winter. To unnecessarily make people pay more for heating fuel is highly destructive punishment. To treat Vermonters in this way is cruel, it is not the Vermont way and it is certainly not constructive. These fuel dealers literally save lives, they make sure their customers are covered through the winter and they work around the clock to get the job done. They care about their customers and communities and provide an essential service. 

This reality was ignored and the supermajority rhetoric was clean energy for all and we are helping the climate and reducing carbon and its equitable. Mass propaganda abounded and without understanding the actual destructiveness of this bill and who was really paying, many legislators fell for it. The Clean Heat Standard passed both chambers and then fortunately the Governor, who did his homework and understood the true nature of this bill and its damaging ramifications, vetoed it. 

It of course came back for the veto override session where one brave soul, Representative Bock, a Democrat who chose to represent his constituents and heed their pleas to vote against this hideous bill, held steady against the supermajority whipping and voted with the Republicans to sustain NOT override the Governor’s veto. Bock had chosen not to run in the next election so fortunately it was possible to ignore the intense party pressure he faced. 

Thanks to Representative Bock’s vote, the Clean Heat Standard failed that session but it was resurrected, rebranded and came back with a vengeance the next year, with the help of Vermont Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG) who was determined to ram it through regardless of the collateral damage and burdens to Vermont’s heating sector and all Vermonters. It is critical to understand there was an option to raise money for those in need but the supermajority demanded a carbon credit scheme built on the backs of Vermonters that would command, control and crush the thermal sector instead.

VPIRG’s approach was a well-funded, glossy campaign cleverly called Keep Vermont Cool. H.715 originally known as the Clean Heat Standard was deceptively renamed the ‘Affordable’ Heat Act and ‘climate champion’ and Windsor senate candidate Becca White took it on tour throughout Vermont. Here is where we get a clear glimpse of the ‘legislators turned activists willing to sacrifice constituents’ issue we face, the level of insanity coming through the supermajority and the detrimental influence that certain nonprofits and NGOs hold on some legislators who then force agendas at the expense of the people.

In this vein, H.715 became S.5 the ‘Affordable’ Heat Act and yes VPIRG and the supermajority legislators steamrolled it through during the 2023 session despite stacks and stacks of written messages and thousands of emails and phone calls from constituents sent to legislators demanding a NO vote. 

Legislators told their constituents they did not understand and this would help them even though many could not even explain how this corporate carbon credit scheme wrought with fraudulent activity would work or how much it would cost. Vermonters would be forced to carry the weight and subsidize the renewable energy industry even when it was not feasible for their homes or budget. And this on top of already rampant inflation due to federal spending.

S.5, now Act 18, is currently under the design process with the Public Utilities Commission. It is a highly regressive policy because it uses Vermont’s heating sector to generate money in the corporate carbon market making them ‘pay to do business’ and thus increasing heating fuel costs for all in Vermont. Act 18 does not have the capacity to solve or serve, it is an inherently abusive policy. 

On top of this, when you understand that many houses and businesses in Vermont first need weatherization, electric upgrades or an entire overhaul before a heat pump or other eligible clean heat measure can even be considered then you start to gain insight into the belligerence of this law. 

Weatherization programs are already in place and are making a difference yet there are still many buildings and homes that require this action. Weatherization can decrease heating fuel needs by 40% in many cases and is a real solution because it reduces both cost and fuel needs. Instead the supermajority wants to jack up the price of heating fuel regardless of people’s home or budget situation.  The wait for weatherization can be several years, meanwhile fuel users will pay even more.

Most painfully ironic in all of this is the fact that for years many heating fuel companies have been naturally moving customers to more efficient systems, weatherization and measures such as heat pumps. Their goals are efficiency and access to the new tech that continually evolves, saves money and uses less fuel. This is what customers demand, and the industry has already been delivering. Act 18 forcibly and destructively inserts the state into heating fuel transactions in order to capture money from hard working Vermonters and Vermont businesses already struggling to keep up with costs. That is the greedy bottom line.

If you stop and think about this, you can clearly understand the predicament that the fuel dealers are in. They cannot and would not force a person to buy a clean heat measure, acceptable clean heat measures cost money and do not make sense for certain homes or budgets. Yet fuel dealers have to somehow generate credits or pay a fee for doing business, even though Vermonters need their products for heat. Does that sound fair or even sane? It is a truly twisted design. 

Add to this that the prime architect of the Clean Heat Standard was Richard Cowart of the Regulatory Assistance Project. Richard Cowart designed this carbon credit game built on the backs of hard working Vermonters paying more for heating fuel and then he went on to sell this predatory design to the state of Massachusetts for $200,000. 

Act 18 has been called ‘untenable’ by the Public Utilities Commission as they attempt to piece together this impossible puzzle whose only achievement is to increase costs and compromise the thermal sector. 

No one can decide who owns the carbon credits that are worth money and this entirely wasteful and painful process is paid for by Vermont taxpayers. Again there was an effective option if the goal was to raise money for low and moderate income Vermonters to access these options as the supermajority has proclaimed. 

Why would this type of legislation even exist is the key question?

The heart of the problem is the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA), also passed by the supermajority in 2020. Again Governor Scott understood the burdensome ramifications of the GWSA and vetoed it but the supermajority overrode the veto and the result has been dangerously aggressive legislation. The GWSA drives higher costs for heat, electricity and transportation as the sole focus is placed on reducing carbon emissions at an unrealistic pace that brings risk and is only achievable through carbon taxes, coercion and financial burden. 

Vermont already had an effective comprehensive energy plan that was helping Vermonters save money, access efficient technology and use less fuel. Instead of this supportive process, the GWSA created an unelected climate council, solely focused on reductions in carbon emissions and opened up the state to expensive lawsuits for not meeting these requirements. 

Since the GWSA became law, destructive carbon tax legislation has taken over every session of the legislature and greatly distracts from authentic environmentalism. Repealing the GWSA would allow Vermont to get back to focusing on environmental issues such as clean water, proper sewage management, resource stewardship, toxin and pesticide reductions, and supporting Vermonters in accessing lower cost, efficient systems versus establishing carbon markets to serve corporate interests at the cost of our local businesses and Vermonters 

Vermonters are ingenious and kind, we work together and support each other. We expect and deserve sound legislation that does the same. Constructive policy that allows access and options is the Vermont way. Punishing and penalizing essential sectors and hard working Vermonters is not the path. We can do better. Repealing the GWSA and ensuring the ‘Affordable’ Heat Act does not become law next session are two major steps to help head Vermont in the right direction and resolve the affordability crisis about to crush Vermont. 

The author is a clinical nutritionist in St. Johnsbury.