Meeting targeted emissions deadlines would exacerbate other crises, governor warns
By Guy Page
Gov. Phil Scott – armed and ready post-election with renewed veto power – stated yesterday he wants the Legislature to extend the mandated carbon reduction deadlines in the Global Warming Solutions Act.
At the governor’s weekly press conference, a Seven Days reporter asked Scott if Vermont would pull out of the Paris Climate Accords, and more generally about the future of Vermont’s own carbon reduction efforts.
GWSA supporters say Vermont must do its part to reduce global emissions in the face of the existential threat of rising seas and extreme weather, and that Vermont’s firm stand will help lead the rest of the country, and the world, to take similar action.
Scott’s answer to the reporter (see YouTube video at 32:03 mark) was consistent with past statements, and at odds with the Legislature’s ‘top priority’ focus on Vermont carbon emissions reduction.
It also showed that in Scott’s mind, global warming is just one crisis among many plaguing the Green Mountain State. He replied that he hasn’t pulled his support for the Paris Accords, but that he and other New England governors now believe the regional pace towards carbon reductions is too fast.
Some Republican legislators are believed to be ready to re-introduce a total repeal of the GWSA, which Scott unsuccessfully vetoed the governor isn’t ready – at least not yet – to go that far. It is unclear whether Democrats will press forward with implementation of the Clean Heat Standard, the carbon-taxing scheme to meet carbon reduction goals by transitioning heating systems away from fossil fuels and to electricity. A report published this fall showed that meeting the timelines would raise heating fuel costs by as much as $4/gallon.
Instead, Scott said he recommends the Legislature ‘tweak’ the Global Warming Solutions Act, including its mandate of 80% less carbon emissions by 2050 and the controversial clause allowing the State to be sued if the goals aren’t met. He said he’s okay with keeping the GWSA, but wants to see longer timelines for meeting the 2050 emissions goal and the intermediate goals as well.
And Scott advised the reporter to re-read his concerns in the veto letter (see pg. 7086 in Sept. 19, 2020 Senate Journal.)
More broadly, Scott said crises abound. Vermont can’t afford the economic or social cost of the aggressive carbon emissions mandates. As seen in the video, Scott laid out his argument for more incremental progress on carbon reduction:
“I think we all want to be successful. We want to be able to attain those milestones and not break the bank. We have a lot of crises on our hands. Housing, affordability, we have a demographic crisis. I mean, we have a lot of crises we’re facing at the same time and our climate is one of them.
“But at the same time, we have to pick and choose. We can’t have all of them be our focus, because we won’t we won’t be able to solve any of them, if we do that.
“I think there are ways, and we’ll be talking about that again with the Legislature, but I think there are ways to make the [climate] goals more attainable and more cost effective in the long run.”
Later in the press conference, Scott raised yet another Vermont crisis – public safety. Once among the safest states in the union, Vermont has seen an uptick in violent crime and theft, much of it related to the metastasizing fentanyl epidemic and illegal drug trafficking.
Scott pledged that he will work with the Legislature to make progress on all of the above-named crises.
As reported November 4 in VDC, Vermont ranks among the top (or worst depending on your POV) in the nation for rising school, housing, health care, and energy costs.
Media note: I will be discussing State of Vermont prioritization in the face of many crises on Common Sense Radio at 11 AM today on WDEV AM 550, FM 96.1, and radiovermont.com. Like VDC, Common Sense Radio is ‘comment friendly’ – Callers are welcome at 802-244-1777.