by Rep. Charles Wilson
This report is not on bills in committee, but in part the talk and spirit of what is happening in committee. There is always speech of climate change. We all realize this is the actual result of world deforestation, industrial air pollution, overproduction of plastics and a worldwide abundance of waste. Vermont has very clean air and a very low carbon footprint and yet Vermont’s solution to climate change and global warming, is to follow California’s world fix. The result of this model has led to a culture of the rich… and the very rich, and on the bottom massive poverty, homelessness, and no real working middle class.
Many Vermonters have left the state leaving us with a critical work force shortage. We are now even paying people with our tax dollars to move to Vermont as a result of this. Many have been professional people as Vermont is not business friendly due to high taxes and burdensome regulations.
Long time over-regulation of dairy farms and failures has left our forests, land and homes open to a real estate market of out-of-state buyers, very ready to cash buy farms that can no longer operate. Large swaths of land are now being purchased for unsightly wind and solar farm sites which are ruining our precious landscape. The state encourages “Agri-tourism” and now, more cannabis production instead of food.
Many farms are using out of state, and often times, illegal workers as laborers. The state has a huge strategic plan to build housing, provide food and health care, transportation to these workers at an enormous tax expenditure. “Smart Growth Housing” has now started to construct cluster buildings in our towns which will keep people controlled in municipalities with local, public transportation (no need for a car!) to shop and get to work. The wealthy will then be able to enjoy our country farmlands and forests while the working class will be a new “servant class.”
Effective solutions to climate change are to plant more replacement “carbon eating “trees, address air pollution from autos and industry better and educate citizens more effectively about plastics and excessive waste. Carbon sequestration or capture is not a viable solution. It is an expensive failure, energy intensive, increases emissions and land storage presents significant risks, as leaks ruin ground water.
In committee, it is obvious that the State of Vermont will continue to over-regulate in an invasive manner, with more expensive studies and data collection. The State is the largest employer in the state with a very massive $8.4 billion-plus budget and getting bigger. There is a false hope that this “once in a lifetime millions” we have been awarded by the Federal government, will be able to set in motion all manner of new bills and programs which are unsustainable in the future. We are ruining our children’s and our children’s children future by a debt, so large, that it will never be paid but will overtax them for generations.
It is time that “We the People” speak up for our Constitutional Republic, which gives our government power from the people, and whose job it is to protect them.
If we love Vermont so much, why are we trying to change everything?
The author is the House representative for Caledonia-3 – Lyndon, Wheelock, Sheffield, Sutton and Newark. Contact: cwilson@leg.state.vt.us or 802-730-6564.