So far, no interest in the vaunted “check back” they hyped.

by Rob Roper

Last spring it looked like the Clean Heat Standard (S.5/Act 18) was headed for second successful veto by Governor Scott when Senator Jane Kitchel (D-Caledonia) rescued the “Rube Goldberg” carbon tax on home heating fuels from the abyss by inserting a so-called “check back” clause into the bill. Armed with her magical “check back,” Kitchel was able to convince (some would say trick) Senator Dick Sears (D-Bennington) into joining her in casting the pivotal votes needed to override the Governor’s veto and pass the Clean Heat Standard (CHS) into law.

Democrats across the state, who were catching unprecedented heat from their constituents for even contemplating a scheme that estimates say will add 70 cents or more to a gallon of home heating fuel, grabbed onto the “check back” clause like a life belt in a stormy sea. “The tax won’t take effect until we ‘check back’ to see the details! It’s just a study!” roughly went the pleas for voter amnesty. (FYI, it’s not just a study; Act 18 is law.)

Well, the first check back report from the Public Utilities Commission came in on February 15^th, and it was an absolute disaster. Here’s what the law, Act 18, says the PUC was supposed to have accomplished by mid-last-month:

On or before February 15, 2024, the Commission shall report to the General Assembly on suggested revenue streams that may be used or created to fund the Commission’s administration of the Clean Heat Standard program and shall include programs to support market transformation such as workforce development, market uplift, and training that may be administered by a third party.

The PUC didn’t do this. They asked for a general fund appropriation (for which there is no money) to keep their lights on. Their excuse – somewhat legitimate – was that the CHS was so poorly conceived that it tells them to derive revenue from a program before it is actually in place, which is impossible. Duh. But stupid is as stupid legislates, as Forrest Gump might say.

The legislature also expected:

On or before February 15, 2024 and January 15, 2025, the Commission shall submit a written report to and be available to provide oral testimony to the House Committee on Environment and Energy and the Senate Committees on Finance and on Natural Resources and Energy detailing the efforts undertaken to establish the Clean Heat Standard. The reports shall include, to the extent available, estimates of the impact of the Clean Heat Standard on customers, including impacts to customer rates and fuel bills for participating and nonparticipating customers, net impacts on total spending on energy for thermal sector end uses, fossil fuel reductions, greenhouse gas emission reductions, and, if possible, impacts on economic activity and employment. The modeled impacts shall estimate high-, medium-, and low-price impacts. The reports shall recommend any legislative action needed to address enforcement or other aspects of the Clean Heat Standard, including how to ensure fuel use that occurs outside the thermal sector is not impacted under the program. [Emphasis added]

Long story short, the PUC provided no answers on any of these questions, nor have they even really attempted to answer any of them as of yet. As they put it in the opening paragraph, “This preliminary report does not provide estimates of the impact of the potential Clean Heat Standard on customers and their fuel bills, fossil fuel reductions, greenhouse gas emissions reductions, or impacts on Vermont’s economy.” Cue WAH, WAh, Wah, wah trombone slide.

The report explains this lack of substantive progress at length, but the excuse basically comes down to, “The Commission shares stakeholders’ serious concerns that any draft rule presented to the Legislature in January 2025 will suffer from the haste demanded by Act 18, which – following the months required to hire the necessary personnel and appoint the necessary committees – allots mere months to the creation of an unprecedented, complex program with the potential for unintended consequences that impact the lives of all Vermonters.” In other words, the legislature wrote into the law a totally unrealistic timeframe for implementing the program. The PUC kinda-sorta hinted that they would like an extension of their deadlines, which means a delay in implementing the Clean Heat Standard.

These are serious red flags flying and sirens going off! So, the Climate Doomsayers in the legislature who passed this flagship, “most important” piece of celebrated climate law – with the fate of the planet on the line, no less — jumped into action to get to the bottom of this situation and get things back on track, right? The champions of the “check back” have been busy checking back, no?… Well, no. Not at all as it turns out.

Three weeks after the check back report was submitted with all of its dire warnings of impending disaster, no committee of jurisdiction – or any committee — had the PUC in to hear that oral testimony on the report before leaving Montpelier for the Town Meeting week break.

S.306 – An act relating to changes to the Clean Heat Standard, was introduced by the Senate Natural Resources & Energy Committee on January 31, and has been stuck on the wall with no action taken since. Crossover – the date bills have to pass out of one legislative chamber to be considered by the other – is fast approaching. What the actual [heck].

The way our lawmakers wrote the bill and the way they passed the bill demonstrated incompetence. This is negligence.

While S.306 in its meagre five pages doesn’t call for overall delay of the Clean Heat Standard, it would, as drafted, change the date the PUC has to hire a Default Delivery Agent – the primary entity charged with carrying out the work of meeting the greenhouse gas emission reduction mandates that are the ostensible purpose of the law. As Act 18 is written, that hiring has to take place this June. Clearly from the Feb 15 report that is not – cannot – happen because in order to write the contract detailing the work that needs to be done, what the financial compensation is, and how it will be paid all of the details of how the program works need to be spelled out. Not just for the PUC and the DDA and the fuel dealers, but for the people of Vermont who deserve to know what’s going on with this program.

So, note to the PUC and their Technical Advisory Group: If the legislature doesn’t act on S.306 – washes their hands of the absolute mess they have created – that January 2025 date you say is unrealistic isn’t really the date you have to worry about. It’s the June 2024 contract date for the DDA. You don’t have “mere months.” You’ve got mere weeks. Good luck with this!

Rob Roper is a freelance writer who has been involved with Vermont politics and policy for over 20 years. This article reprinted with permission from Behind the Lines: Rob Roper on Vermont Politics, robertroper.substack.com