by Bruce Roy
Let’s put Vermont’s position in the fossil fuel climate change discussion in perspective.
Vermont has the smallest carbon footprint of all the USA states, emitting about 0.1% of the USA’s CO2 emissions. Depending on the data source, the USA produces about 5-6 billion metric tons, Vermont produces 5-6 million tons per year. There are actually multiple coal burning electricity plants in the USA that individually produce up to 5X Vermont’s annual emissions! One single plant!
I’ll put that in visual terms. Imagine the total USA emissions is represented by the length of a football field, 100 yards, 300 feet. Vermont’s contribution to that is 1/3 of a foot! 4 whole inches!!! The width of one of the yard markers!!
The GWSA forced the passage of the Affordable Heat Act/Carbon tax in an attempt to meet unachievable reduction mandates. Recent studies and testimony have stated the AFA with its financial penalties is unmanageable and incredibly expensive. We’ve already spent millions of dollars on that ill conceived law. Even if AFA would be ultimately, incredibly successful, costing BILLIONS of dollars to Vermonters to remove ALL fossil fuel heating sources from Vermont, that 4 inches shrinks “all the way down” to 3 inches! 1” reduction! Not saving the planet by any means … and at what cost to Vermont families, especially low to middle income.
How much financial burden is 1 inch of emissions reduction worth to already struggling Vermonters?
How many lost, local small fuel distributors is it worth to save 1 inch? How many lawsuits, allowed by the GWSA and defended by taxpayer dollars, are worth 1 inch of CO2 reduction?
Who are these laws really benefiting?
The GWSA and the Affordable Heat Act are faulty and ineffective legislation. They MUST BE REPEALED.
Current stall tactics and political deflections are not with Governor Scott as some would like to claim, it’s with the Vermont General Assembly! Did the legislature not get the message from Vermont voters last fall?