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.