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By John McCormick
I am a Democrat who helped elect Senator Steven Heffernan. It was in my personal interest that I did. It was my response to an earlier plea for an additional 4 or 5 Republican Senate-elects to finally put an end to the clean heat standard. His victory meant Chris Bray would be excused from Vermont’s much needed clear headed, factual and financial discussions about heating homes, cost of electricity and fuels, etc.
There is also the reality of amending the Global Warming Solutions Act. Strike the mandate. Replace it with a Vermont Strong set of goals to achieve any carbon reduction that reduces my cost of living. Do what we can for the globe but lower the cost of heating our homes and buildings; commuting on an expanded and customer friendly mass-transit.
Vermont receives a huge proportion of power import from ISO-NE and that source is primarily gas turbines. That cannot be changed but it can be modified. S.5 was destined to increase demand for kilowatts to fuel the heat pumps and EVs. That would increase cost of transmission and distribution for all of us. This is not a sound plan for my future. I need something smarter ….and my Republican neighbors elected Steven.
I know he will be effective. I remind him he defused IEDs in Afghanistan; this will be easier. There can be 13 Senate Republicans working and thinking how to rewrite Vermont’s energy, transportation, fuel wood and workforce. Give them the input they need to propose answers to the above and sponsoring legislation to authorize remedies and solutions.
Regarding my personal interest: my family and I live in a two level log home, in the Green Mountain Forest. I cut, split and burn about seven chords using oil backup. No drywalls so no heat pump. If my oil bill goes up because of weather or a law, I’ll be cutting more of my forest. I’m a WWII baby. That was the whole purpose of S.5. I’d be paying dollars per gallon more for the next 25 years without any heat pump.
Then I met Steven Heffernan the candidate and I saw a way to avoid that pain…..defeat Mr. Bray.
We’ve learned a lesson. Our legislators operate without any personal staff and rely on the wisdom and generosity of individuals, businesses and NGOs; some of whom have cash-on-hand, in the $10s of millions.
The S.5 mistake was a creature of the GWSA, Climate Council and NGOs. Raising funds for global warming to campaign on the Paris Climate Accord came easy. Technical expertise was far outweighed by attorneys. How many S.5 architects know there are 3,412 BTUs/kilowatt-hour?
Senator Heffernan agreed to look at my draft proposal and possibly introduce it in January. It will expand the O.E.O. Weatherization Assistance Program.
It is the Alternative to S. 5 that PUC Commissioner McNamara ordered will be considered in his report to the Legislature. The Senator’s bill increases Weatherization Assistance Program installers’ salary by $10 over several years; provides cost-free WAP services to lower median income households and joins VEIC to the WAP Program. Interested?
Email jmccormick@imtd.org. Thank you for your time.
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Categories: Commentary
Is the Complaint Department open?
I am really fed up with these ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS which take my hard earned money away and give it to a government program who turns around and gives it to a Vermonter who is looking for a handout and may be cannot manage their own money.
Enough of the HAND-OUTs (aka: Assistance programs) already.
ASSISTANCE PROGRAM “boil down” to the equivalent of stealing Vermonter’s money.
Another program is NOT the answer. Much of Vermont’s tax and spend problem is based on too many ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS which sound good on the surface but are wrought with wasteful self interest. Look at the people who are hired to “give” the money away. Do we even know who these govt employees are and how they think and the parameters they are given to make decisions in what teeter on “god-like” judgements?
(SIDE Note: Have you noticed all the advertisements in the newspapers about the “Lets Grow Kids” child care ASSISTANCE PROGRAM?- how much do those weekly advertisements cost the “Lets grow kids” CHILD CARE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM? Should that money have gone to the child care facilities or families instead? What a waste!) BTW are the ads convincing anyone that the program is working or is good or worth our money?
The long term answer is to keep money in people’s pockets by cutting these ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS and educate them on how to be better at managing their own money to pay their own weatherization, pay for their own child care, pay for their own everything.
Every student and Adult in Vermont needs to take a course on money management.
Include the basics: saving Good= frivolous spending Bad.
Our govt is continually taxing Vermonters and then our govt doles out the money as it bleeds out along the path to the receiver who, in my opinion, does not deserve the money in the 1st place.
If we start early with our kids and teach them to take care of themselves and not rely on handouts then we would not be in this mess.
Come on Susan, grifters gotta grift, there is a handling fee, aka salary at stake here, the more people we have sending your money to someone else the more government employees we have! That’s how you prosper with socialism,, it’s the ultimate OPM grift because you don’t have to do anything but shuffle money.
Susan, the Dept. of Children and Families Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) has been in existence since 1979. Last year it weatherized 1,200 homes and about 1,500 this year.
Vermonters who cannot afford heating fuels get assistance from DCF to help cover heating costs. 26,000 Vermonters are clients of that federal Low Income Heat Energy Assistance Program. Clients are required to have their homes weatherized by WAP. Heating fuel customers pay 2 cents per gallon to fund WAP. Weatherizing a low income household may prevent frequent ER visits due to asthma and respiratory problems. That saves us taxpayers a bit.
Re: “Last year it weatherized 1,200 homes and about 1,500 this year.”
“The state Legislature approved $80 million this year for weatherization projects, and according to Vermont’s 2021 Climate Action Plan, about 90,000 additional homes need to be weatherized by 2030.” – VT Digger
Do the math. $53,333 per home? Even if we assume that only half of this investment makes it to Vermont homes, it’s an incredulous proposition. Where is all this money really going?
TEL. LIE. VISION. makes money on all of these ads. Now when it comes to money PICKPOCKETPOWELL and GRAMMY SMELLEN YELLEN are your source for education. Now, is the public well educated after four years of inflation????
Thank god for reasonableness and for kicking out Bray who was beyond believable and devoid of reasonableness He did not care one once about Vermonters. This was a personal power play on his part with what was probably some expected payback (wink wink) to Mr. Bray from the woke climate promoters. You know, those who demand without question that it be, “their way or the highway”. GOOD RIDDANCE!!
I find it interesting that just about every Democrat starts their sentence with how they identify, which box they put themselves in. I don’t care! You democrats need to start looking a little more critically in the mirror unless that is, being a democrat is all you are.
I read chronic cynics; about everything that doesn’t begin with Trump!!
I’mmabout defeating S.5 (CHS). What’s your contribution to Vermonters?
Mr. McCormick my contribution to Vermonters was getting you out and the supermajority that wont listen to average citizens.
Paul, wrong McCormick. I am not the defeated Senator McCormick.
apologies Mr John McCormick 🙁 but those who actually voted an reduced the supermajority will contribute but not solve spending and financials problems fast enough.
Jay, your math is off. 90,000 x $53,000 = 4.8 billion
And the O.E.O. DCF weatherization program, in SFY 2024, weatherized 1,500 homes at a budget of $15,862,499; That equals $10,574 per home.