Either pass laws that will meet GWSA mandates or repeal the mandates.

by Rob Roper

Vermont Democrats passed the Global Warming Solutions Act in 2020 over the veto of Governor Scott and the Republican legislative minority. That law mandates strict targets and timelines for greenhouse gas reduction set at 26% below 2005 levels by 2025, 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 and 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. And, so the law allows, if Vermonters fail to achieve those targets, any individual or organization can sue the state at taxpayer expense.

That was nearly five years ago. And since then, the party that passed those mandates has done pretty much nothing new to meet them. The 2025 deadline has come and gone, and Vermonters are currently being sued by the Conservation Law Foundation as a result. 2030 looms with no realistic proposals on the table to meet that even more challenging target either.

Vermonters have spent multiple millions of dollars on bureaucrats, consultants and studies done through the GWSA created Climate Council (not to mention the per diem payments and expenses for this 23-member unelected entity), the Agency of Natural Resources, the Department of Public Services, and the Public Utilities Commission. What policies have emerged and been enacted as the result of all this time and expense? Not… a… darn… thing.

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The two main sources of greenhouse gas emissions in Vermont are the thermal sector (home heating) and transportation. The only new policy Vermont Democrats have considered so far has been the Clean Heat Standard for the thermal sector. This they passed in 2023, again over the veto of Governor Scott and the Republicans. It spent three years in the making and is now considered dead (or “dormant”) – judged too expensive, too complicated, too regressive, and totally lacking in public support. What’s the alternative plan of action? There is none.

For the transportation sector, the Climate Action Plan of December 2021 recommended joining a thing called the Transportation Climate Initiative, which would have created an alliance between a dozen or so Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states to essentially tax gasoline and diesel fuels to discourage their use. But the pact collapsed in November 2021 when every state but one (Massachusetts) backed out due to public backlash at the cost. What’s the transportation plan for Vermont now after four years of naval gazing? There is none.

The only discussion happening now around transportation concerns a recently completed study (more taxpayer dollars out the window) looking at joining a California based “cap and trade” program that would add, according to the State Treasurer, Mike Pieciak, “at least” 26 cents per gallon of gasoline and diesel. Pieciak, recognizing that at 26 cents or more gas tax would go over like a lead balloon, is recommending that the legislature not do this. And, as there isn’t any legislation that would do so under consideration or even tacked to the wall of some committee, it appears they won’t. So, again, they’ve got nothing.

Given this state of all talk no legislative action, Governor Scott has proposed, and Vermont Republicans have put forward, bills that would eliminate the mandates in the Global Warming Solutions Act (most comprehensively H.289), restoring them to goals, and remove the lawsuit provision that gives standing to anyone who wants to sue the state at taxpayers’ expense if we don’t meet those goals. Instead, the Governor wants to put together a new plan based on what Vermonters can realistically afford and what our tiny state can realistically accomplish with the resources we have available.

But the Democrats are balking. In an interview with Vermont Public Manchester Rep. Kathleen James (D-Manchester), who chairs House Committee on Energy and Digital Infrastructure, said “rescinding the emissions reduction mandates, and eliminating the private right of action, ‘remove a primary mechanism for making sure that the work is getting done.’” Here’s the problem with that statement: no work is getting done. Not a bit.

In fact, James’ committee is not considering a single piece legislation that would put Vermont even part way on a path to meeting the 2030 GWSA reduction targets, and she does not plan to. Nor is her senate counterpart Anne Watson (D-Washington), chair of the Senate Natural Resources & Energy Committee. Yet, if they don’t pass something this year, there is no realistic chance of meeting that 2030 deadline (if it was ever a realistic possibility). Vermonters will get sued.

So, here lies the challenge to Vermont Democrats: Put up or shut up.

If you really believe meeting the greenhouse gas reduction mandates you established in the Global Warming Solutions Act is something a majority of Vermonters want you to do, that it will save Vermonters money, and will actually have a meaningful impact on climate change, then grow a spine and pass the laws necessary to do it. Certainly saving the planet for future generations is more important than potentially losing an election!

But if you don’t really believe any of that — have neither the plans nor the fortitude to live up to the expectations of your own law – then repeal it. Admit you were wrong and chart a new course that your constituents support. But to do nothing is irresponsible and unconscionable, putting Vermont taxpayers on the legal hook and wasting money on legal fees for not meeting mandates you have no idea how to or intention of even trying to meet.

Rob Roper is a freelance writer with 20 years of experience in Vermont politics including three years’ service as chair of the Vermont Republican Party and nine years as President of the Ethan Allen Institute, Vermont’s free market think tank.