In the face of the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives tasking the Public Utility Commission (a regulatory body of appointed officials) to do the work of the Legislature (officials elected by the people), Vermont House Republicans want the Legislature to be the decision-makers on the creation and design of a Clean Heat Standard, the Vermont House GOP Caucus said today.
In a nutshell, the Clean Heat Standard (CHS) is the most consequential change in how we heat our homes and businesses with the cost to Vermonters still unclear. Nearly every seller of heating oil, kerosene, and propane will be required to pay a compliance fee unless they can prove their customers are using less fuel.
“This dramatic shift in our home heating world will come with a significant cost to Vermonters,” said House Minority Leader, Pattie McCoy (R-Poultney). “As some Vermont families, businesses, and farms might be able to afford some of these more costly equipment changes, and some may think the higher cost of heating fuel is worth it for lower carbon emissions, there are many Vermonters who will find it very difficult to pay for the higher cost of heating fuel that will inevitably result from this change.”
“The bill as passed the House today calls for the Public Utility Commission to create, design, and ultimately implement this program,” added Rep. Jim Harrison (R-Chittenden). “This means that when costs for heating fuel increases as dramatically as it could as a result of the CHS, elected officials will be able to pass the buck to the Public Utility Commission – a regulatory body made up of unelected officials. After all, it will not have been the Legislature that ultimately put the CHS into action. There will be zero accountability for our elected officials.”
“We had an opportunity today to assure Vermonters that we, as their elected officials, will determine the future of the Clean Heat Standard,“ concluded McCoy. “And we refused to do so. We passed the buck to a group of unelected, unaccountable individuals.”
Categories: Press Release
Don’t they know that the more the commonweal intrudes on the citizenry the more the spirit of law abiding cooperation is eroded. Our pursuit of happiness becomes more of an underground life.
We.find ways to elude oppressive intrusions.
It was one thing in 2000 to put the PSB (now PUC) in charge of an efficiency charge on regulated electric bills. In 2005 the Democrats repealed the legislative cap on that charge, and gave PUC unconstitutional taxing power. Now the Climateers are deliberately using the PUC chaired by anti-nuclear and climate emergency activist Anthony Roisman, as their own little executive branch, notably in the Clean Heat Standard bill. This is an enormous expansion of the Administrative State that is virtually unaccountable.
I don’t believe it’s necessarily about who we can blame later, it’s more about who can be paid off now to accomplish the agenda that is being put forth into Vermont.
There are no rules surrounding people on the public utility commission taking in cash for certain actions. In that way it’s off the books.