The bizarre testimony of the Renewable Energy Vermont executive director.
by Rob Roper
Most people would say, if you’re in a hole stop digging. Not Peter Sterling, the executive director for Renewable Energy Vermont, who testified before the House Environment & Energy Committee last week posing the loopy logic that legislators shouldn’t worry about passing policies that drive up the cost of electricity because the cost of everything else is unaffordable too. What’s worse than the argument itself is that the lawmakers are apparently buying into it!
Sterling, who recently beclowned himself getting caught on a hot mic during a Climate Council meeting booking plans for a mega-carbon-emission-filled ski vacation to Chamonix, France, seemed completely oblivious to how utterly damning his opening remarks were to the very people he was presenting to. Lucky for him, they seemed just as oblivious. “The first thing I’d really like to drive home,” said Sterling, “is that electric bills are not driving the affordability crisis we have in Vermont.” He then referred to the following data:
- Health Care: An MVP Silver plan is $831/mo or $9,972/yr plus a $9,300 annual deductible for an annual OOP max of $19,272
- Child Care: The average cost of child care for a family in Vermont is over $26,000/yr (Let’s Grow Kids)
- Rental Housing: Vermont is the 4th least affordable state for renters (Bennington Banner, 10/30/22)
- Student Loans: Vermont has the 9th highest amount of student debt at $38,071 per borrower (Vermont Business Magazine 11/25/23)
You’ve screwed everything else up! Why stop there? The reasons why every one of these ridiculously unaffordable sectors of our economy are the way they are can be traced back to policies embraced by the very lawmakers sitting around the conference table knitting their brows and nodding thoughtfully at this gibberish, in large part because they listen to – seek out, in fact — this exact brand of gibberish to guide them through most of their decision making.
So, Sterling concludes, given how unaffordable everything is, an average Vermont electric bill of $1,400 doesn’t seem so bad. And if passing the Renewable Energy Standard makes that bill go up closer to $1,600, who’s going to notice? So go for it! It’s like saying, hey, you’re already a morbidly obese diabetic suffering from coronary artery disease, so you might as well buy and eat the box of donuts I’m trying to sell you at an inflated price. God forbid, lawmakers, you focus on actually fixing those first four bullet points.
But sticking to electricity costs, let’s not forget that Vermonters already have the ninth highest electricity rates in the country. Those responsible like to point out that we have the lowest rates in New England – and credit where credit’s due. But first, that’s like being the handsomest guy in the leper colony, and second, if that’s your positive selling point why would you actively undermine it by driving costs artificially higher. Wouldn’t it make more sense to enhance your economic advantage by locking in even lower rates than our neighboring competitors? Of course not….
A savvy BTL reader shared with me a ProPublica “Non-Profit Explorer” report that shows Peter Sterling pulls down over $100,000 a year for lobbying the legislature to make your life less affordable. So, for him perhaps an extra $192 a year tacked onto his $1400 annual electric bill is no big deal. But what’s really infuriating is the fact that lawmakers listen to nitwits like this, give his opinions real weight, and follow his advice, while ignoring or avoiding the testimony of people who actually work for a living, not to mention their constituents who are screaming for relief.
That’s enough writing for today. Time to go outside and watch the sun and moon conspire to mock our increasing reliance on weather dependent energy sources.
Rob Roper is a freelance writer who has been involved with Vermont politics and policy for over 20 years. This article reprinted with permission from Behind the Lines: Rob Roper on Vermont Politics, robertroper.substack.com
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Categories: Commentary, Energy, Legislation, State Government, Uncategorized
I guess I’d like to know who’s lobbying for the taxpayers? The next thing is who is paying this guy so handsomely that he can fly off to France for a ski vacation? It seems that even though these legislators are paid with taxpayer money for the duration of their service in Mount Stupid, it is the lobbyists that get the lawmaker’s respect and attention.
The purpose of a lobbyist is to sway the lawmakers toward whatever issue is important to whoever is paying the lobbyist. The lobbyist is a skilled talker with a pocket full of cash. Does the lobbyist believe the narrative being pushed to the lawmaker? He/she could probably care less for the issue and a lot about how much cash they can make doing what they do.
What they do is convince the brainiacs making laws that the taxpayers need to pay more for energy that isn’t renewable at all.
Wind and sun are constant but the energy they produce is dependent on weather. Currently, these energy forms provide 6% of the total energy needed and are expensive to build and construct while cheaper energy is ignored. The answer is to ban lobbyist. The people are the only lobbyists needed to sway lawmakers and the taxpayers are paying for them to listen.
Vermont has a gaggle of fools running the state, they’re running the state right into the ground and we let it happen………….how pathetic
Listening to Peter Sterling profess his thoughts, should give every Vermonter concern and he’s leading this pack of fools……………… just more wasted tax dollars !!
Wake up people, and make a change in the right direction, stop the nonsense.
The biggest problem as I see it is uninformed and/or apathetic residents of Vermont. Seriously, ask 10 random people tomorrow who Peter Sterling is and I bet every dollar in my pocket (after taxes of course) that not a single person would have a clue.
If you want, take it a step further and ask them who their State Reps and Senators are and their answers will point to the problems we’re witnessing.
Thanks, Rob, for keeping those of us that give a darn, informed.
thirty senators in vermont//// one down, twenty nine more to go/// i have no compassion for any of these people/// the scam demic proved to you what these people really are//// got to wonder, did they all take the kill shot////
Look up his bio. Peter Sterling has made his living in politics (and lobbying) his entire life. He is the definition of “The Swamp”. And having been at it his entire adult life, he has his schtick down pat. I’m sure he could sell ice to the Eskimos and convince them they were buying roses. Unfortunately, he’s selling scare tactics to the legislature, who are then telling *us* we have to pay for them.
Nonetheless, the facts remain. Percentage of CO2 in the air we breathe: 0.04%. Should the climate hysterics get us down to 0.02%, all life on the planet will cease to exist. That’s not much of a buffer,
Despite all the doomsaying and scare tactics that come at us non-stop, facts are stubborn things, and the truth will eventually rise to the top. It always does. Just look at where we were in 2021 with Fauxvid…. and it all turned out to be lies.
Grifters gotta grift. The lies and deception have earned big money for the lying, liars from Liarsville. The good news is their time is running out as is their endless stream of funding. The banker wars (on a global scale) is about to get very dicey as they need to create full scale war to keep the illusion going. As they whistle past the graveyard, the drums of war are pounding louder, more blood being shed, and liquidity is drying up. The real numbers don’t lie.
These legislators need to be tarred and feathered
The progressives have successfully gamed Vermont. It’s game over, and Vermonters have lost.