by Alison Despathy
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?
Passed in 2020, despite the Governor’s veto, the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA) sets unrealistic greenhouse gas reductions requirements for our cold, rural state.
Specifically, the GWSA mandates reducing the state’s greenhouse gas emissions by:
- 26% by 2025
- 40% by 2030
- 80% by 2050
Vermont has the lowest energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the nation, including the greatest in state net energy generation from renewable sources. Our energy consumption is for basic living necessities: heat, transportation, lights, businesses, cooking.
Holding emissions as the top environmental priority wastes money and state resources and distracts from decades long work to increase energy efficiency and affordability through upgrades, weatherization and reduced consumption.
Vermont has recently spent hundreds of millions of dollars chasing greenhouse gas emissions. Think of the homes and businesses that could have been weatherized with efficient appliances and heating and home solar systems installed. Think of the number of communities in need of larger culverts and support to prevent and repair damage from storms. Or even the money Vermonters could have saved with lower taxes
Instead this exorbitant amount of money was spent on modeling programs, data collection, lawsuits, lawyers, studies, often ignored reports, and independent contractors hired to do this work. Money has stayed in the bureaucratic state, wasted on hypotheticals versus getting directly to people to make a real difference. The GWSA alone mandated this policy shift which actually impedes progress.
Shooting us in the foot, on top of leaving us out in the cold, the recent democratic supermajority forced this irresponsible law which also includes a provision that anyone can sue the state for not meeting impossible, hostile reduction requirements.
Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) wrote the lawsuit language and as a well funded ‘nonprofit’ with tens of millions of dollars in revenue and assets –CLF has been tax exempt since 1967- the suing rampage has just begun
Their recent lawsuit against Vermont alleged a lack of aggressive action and improper methods to calculate emissions. The data modeling wars are in full effect, “my data is right and yours is wrong”, an ongoing, industry-driven, divisive battle in the realm of climate science.
CLF lost their case but without a repeal of the GWSA, they will assuredly be back to waste more taxpayer dollars and resources. With impossible to meet emission reductions requirements, CLF will be successful in their next lawsuit thus mandating high risk, aggressive action.
Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) and Department of Public Service (PSD) have been tracking emission reductions and efficiency measures for years, Vermont has steadily moved in the right direction all the while supporting Vermonters versus crushing us as the GWSA now mandates.
Accounting for overall impacts, ANR and DPS have balanced emission reductions, efficiency goals and economic realities for Vermonters versus zealotry and blind ideology alone governing their action. Meaning together they have mutually done their job in looking out for the environment, the people and local economy of Vermont.
Vermonters care deeply about each other, the environment and our local businesses. Supporting these values is a balancing act that must drive policy decisions. The GWSA is antithetical to these Vermont priorities, in that it harms these pillars of Vermont culture in its currently delusional and actually destructive mandate to electrify Vermont by increasing living expenses of Vermonters.
Vermonters spoke out strong against this electrification and the recent clean heat standard due to unsustainable costs and risks during times of power outages. Vermont’s grid is not equipped to take this load, houses need weatherization, many are not easily converted to electric heat, and diversification offers reliability, especially during our cold winters.
Electric rates also continue to increase and with the recently passed, supermajority Renewable Energy Standard written by the renewable energy industry, electric rates will rapidly escalate as Vermont electric utilities are forced to buy intermittent unreliable, expensive renewable energy. Alternatively they can purchase pricey renewable energy credits to pretend they don’t use other reliable, base load energy sources. All placing higher electric crates on Vermonters.
And the clock ticks towards the GWSA deadlines.
Unfortunately this is only half of the problem –
The GWSA also mandates any action taken to reduce emissions must be technologically feasible, cost effective and equitable. Proving an impossible task, every proposal significantly raises the costs of heating fuel or transportation fuel, thus bringing collateral damage of increased costs for all goods. This would break many families and businesses already struggling to make ends meet and it would not solve any environmental problems.
Report after report and study after study have concluded that the proposed measures to reduce emissions such as the clean heat standard, the cap and invest program, advanced clean car and truck, and ecosystem services are NOT the right fit for Vermont, and would have undue adverse effects on Vermonters, especially low income Vermonters. None of the programs have been technologically feasible, cost effective or equitable as required by the law. Further, all drive a carbon market, ripe for fraud as determined by the Vermont Public Utility commission and force an unrealistic and experimental agenda on Vermont.
Now you can see the trap- we cannot consciously take action with the known impacts of these policy proposals yet if we do not meet the required greenhouse gas reductions, we face expensive lawsuits which will mandate aggressive and harmful policy.
The GWSA is a hellish vicious cycle and unrelenting battle for Vermont. The only way through is a full repeal to get Vermont back on track supporting each other, our environment and our local businesses by continuing to do what we have been doing for decades- reducing energy consumption through efficiency measures and helping each other along the way.