by John McClaughry
Three weeks ago supporters of bold action to defeat climate change, led by Bill McKibben’s 350 organization, held a rally on the state house lawn. All the terrors of climate change and the plight of our grandchildren were trotted out to prod the legislature to act. What was interesting was that some of the climate warriors present weren’t too keen on what has become the centerpiece of the Climate Action Plan, the Clean Heat Standard.
That’s the plan to jack up prices of heating oil by requiring oil distributors to pay other people to assist yet other people to stop using oil heat. Richard Cowart of the Climate Council hatched the Clean Heat Standard when it dawned on the Council members that, with the Transportation and Climate Initiative defunct, their grand Climate Action Plan didn’t bring in any money to pay people to fight climate change.
At the State House rally some of the protesters expressed opposition to bills they decried as “false energy solutions” — including the bill that directs the Public Utility Commission to adopt a Clean Heat Standard.
Notable among the speakers was Liz Medina, the executive director of the State Labor Council, AFL-CIO. Labor had opposed the now-dead motor fuel tax because it landed on the backs of working people getting to their jobs. Now, she said climate change solutions must not be “funded on the back of the working class,” indicating Labor’s opposition to the Clean Heat Standard as well.
Are you listening, Democrats?
John McClaughry is vice president of the Ethan Allen Institute.
Categories: Energy
That is a pretty sad looking “crowd” from what I can see in the picture. I’d estimate 75-100 people at most. How many people are there in the State of Vermont 600,000 + ? There are more wacky wokies under the Golden Dome pictured behind them than there are people in that picture.
That’s the problem Patrick……..Far too many Vermonters are simply unaware of what the legislature is up to when it comes to climate change many other policies……..When the people are unaware, poor policies are allowed to advance.
This may be anecdotal, but for years I have been asking people what they think of Vermont’s renewal energy polices calling for industrial sized solar development projects around the State with little to no siting or development standards…….Time and time again, I have heard people admit they know little. More recently, I have asked about the Global Warming Solutions Act and what it will entail, again people have little to no idea of what’s going on.
An unengaged electorate allows bad policy outcomes to result as special interests and their powerful lobbyists push their agendas in Montpelier, while an uninformed general public remains unengaged. This has been happening for years in Vermont and the policies become more and more radical as time passes.
What we have in Vermont is the old analogy of the frog slowly being boiled in the pot without even knowing it…….Vermonters are now in the climate change pot and the legislature is turning up the heat everyday…….Time to act before being cooked.
How many times does some Official or Legislator announce some urgent matter on the Capitol steps call in the media, and only 5 people (usually office staff or family) show up to participate or view the excitement!
Except that hardly any of them are inside that golden done Patrick. The majority of them are home participating on zoom so that they can lounge around in their jammies and so that they don’t have to pay for doggy and kitty day care.
Really tired of these senseless, ignorant radicals. Communist China is the worst polluter on the face of the earth, but they loooove China & China’s human rights violations too. Why? Their enemy is “Vermont”.
Today, we were informed that the price of a half-gallon of organic VT milk in our VT grocery store was so expensive because of “Putin”. Fairy tales is all they know.
Because Biden has put a halt to energy production via petroleum, we will have a food crisis in our country. Ranchers will be slaughtering their livestock in the next 6 months because they can’t feed them. Why may you ask? Because all grain crops that feed livestock will see a 50% reduction in yield. Why may you ask? Because of a fertilizer shortage that boosts crop yield by 100%. Climate activist policies prevent the production of fertilizer because it can only be made from petrochemicals via the Harber process. Congress has also mandated CO2 sequestering plants that will decrease food crops further by taking CO2 at of the atmosphere causing stunted growth of agricultural crops in the United States. The food crisis will take almost a year to reveal itself because we are consuming what was harvested from last years crops. The famine will last for several years according to experts because live stock will take that many years to mature. This is not Putin’s fault, one only has to look in the Congressional mirror and administration to blame. Remember, remember the 8th of November!