By Paul Bean
A bill to repeal the Clean Heat Standard is expected to be introduced by house Republicans in the early upcoming session as a preemptive measure to oppose the expected new version of the Clean Heat Standard.
The Clean Heat Standard is the legislature’s attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to meet the mandated goals required by the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2020.
House Minority Leader Rep. Pattie McCoy (Poultney) told Dave Soulia of FYIVT.com by email, “Vermonters sent a message loud and clear in the November elections. We need to return affordability to Vermont. Our caucus is fully behind a repeal of this legislation that was enacted by the supermajority Democrats through an override of Governor Scott’s veto in 2023.”
Last fall the Vermont Department of Public Service contracted an independent consultant and estimated the Clean Heat Standard could increase the cost of heating oil anywhere from $1.79 to $4.00 per gallon.
The latest draft report from the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) states, “It is not feasible for all Low- and Moderate-Income households to participate in the program’s early years – and those unable to participate will face higher heating costs….” House Republicans share this view.
The Clean Heat Standard, otherwise called Act 18, is set to return to the legislature in the upcoming session.
Representative Mark Higely told VDC this morning “If the Clean Heat Standard is to come through the legislature again then it will have to be addressed just as any other bill. It will have to go through committee, back on the floor, and eventually the Governor can veto it again.The report this fall from the PUC basically said we don’t recommend implementing the clean heat standard. If they’re foolish enough to go forward with the clean heat standard, or whatever it is this year, it has to come back in the form of a bill and be addressed just like all other bills. This bill is currently a draft bill.”
Draft bills have not yet been introduced, could change, and won’t have a number until it is introduced. It will likely be introduced and posted on the Legislature’s website by January 8.
“Not only do we need to start over with Act 18, we need to remain vigilant that it is not replaced with some other new carbon tax scheme,” McCoy told FYIVT.com.
Getting into the inside baseball of lawmaking, it might seem odd that Republicans are introducing a bill to repeal the Clean Heat Standard considering Act 18 will again have to go through the legislature as a new bill anyway and still has the potential to be voted down and even vetoed.
Mark Higley speculated “the reason House Republicans might want to introduce a bill to repeal Act 18 is to ensure they are out ahead of the curve and that they can point to that directly opposed to the CHS.”
One major stakeholder of the CHS, the Vermont Natural Resources Council, wrote on their website September 1 that Act 18 “will change the longstanding, profit-driven, fossil-fueled status quo – which is why Big Oil is aiming to disrupt Vermont’s effort. Americans for Prosperity – a “dark money” group founded by the billionaire Koch brothers and bankrolled by national fossil fuel interests – has entered into Vermont with tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in mailers and ads clearly intended to sow misinformation and fear.”
Americans for Prosperity have sent out mail campaigns in Vermont that directly oppose measures mandated by the CHS. Speaker Jill Krowinski released a statement on July 24, she calling the campaign “misinformation and the influence of dark money that aims to promote confusion and fear…The goal of the Affordable Heat Act is to help insulate Vermonters from fossil-fuel price swings, and to make it easier and more affordable for them to transition — if they want to — to more sustainable renewable energy sources.”
The Democrat majority may seek to implement a new version of the CHS. VDC will be tracking both of these bills in the upcoming session.