Editor’s note: This commentary is by Peter Rothschild, a businessman who is a member of the New Haven Planning Commission. The views expressed are his own.
[V]ermonters can feel proud that we are out in front on many environmental issues including climate change. But choices among types of renewable energy have been made that may result in the unnecessary scarring of thousands of acres and have stirred statewide controversy. Below is a synopsis of the problems we face, the causes, and some solutions.
Problems
• Armies of solar developers, abetted by special interests, have flocked to Vermont to reap financial rewards from subsidies.
• Horrendous conduct by some developers have fanned the flames of discontent so that many new commercial solar energy projects face pushback from communities in which these projects are to be sited.
• Increasing our solar energy capacity has come at a cost of the degradation of our scenic environment, a schism between state government and municipalities, and a distortion of political process in Montpelier.
• Section 248 was intended to deal with very large public utility energy generation and is inappropriate for regulating small-scale distributed energy projects but empowers the PSB to override town plans or zoning laws. This has created a struggle between the state and its local governments since the state is usurping power that used to belong to municipalities. By overriding local zoning laws, Section 248 has removed a property owner’s protection against a neighbor’s behavior that could negatively impact his or her property values.
• The setback limits for solar projects in Act 56 are affronts to common sense.
• The loopholes for screening requirements in Act 56 make it likely that poorly sited and screened projects may still get PSB approval.
• 150 kW solar projects are allowed to avoid the approval processes required of larger solar projects. This special treatment allows for a faster approval time, smaller setbacks, and lack of proper decommissioning resulting in 150 kW projects that often produce more public anger than their relatively small number of kilowatts is worth.
• In their desire to “do the right thing” about climate change, Vermonters ceded control of their towns and esthetic environment to politicians and special interests. By 2012 project siting problems were already obvious.
In their desire to “do the right thing” about climate change, Vermonters ceded control of their towns and esthetic environment to politicians and special interests.
• Our government in Montpelier has developed a preference for solar over wind and hydro projects. Having politicians picking winners and losers in technology rarely ends well, and raises the question of why there is an emphasis on solar when we live in a state with the second lowest number of hours of sunshine.
Iron Triangle
These problems were caused by distorted political process. We have a number of instances in which legislators have moved into positions in state agencies, and this situation is best represented by an iron triangle involving state legislators, state agencies, industry lobbyists aligned with a powerful environmental lobby, and wealthy investors seeking a subsidized rate of return.
Rep. Tony Klein, chairman of the Vermont House Committee on Natural Resource and Energy, is primarily responsible for the creation of H.40 which became Act 56, doubling down on the pro-solar policies that were in place. In spite of promises Mr. Klein made during the past legislative session, his committee did not pass a bill regarding the siting and screening of solar projects.
Sen. Chris Bray, is the chair of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy. In March of 2015 he initiated a joint Senate-House public hearing on renewable energy siting. Unfortunately the voices of the public were allowed to be drowned out by those in the solar industry. Of the 56 people who spoke at the hearing, 21 of them came from SunCommon alone.
Renewable Energy Vermont (REV), a nonprofit trade organization, is the renewables industry major lobbying entity. It is a huge force in bending state energy policy in its favor. Like the big-tobacco lobbies, REV pushes its agenda while dismissing negative outcomes to the community at large. REV has a seat on the newly formed Solar Siting Task Force.
VPIRG, the not-for-profit Vermont Public Interest Group, is the state’s largest consumer and environmental organization. VPIRG’s approach to solar energy is virtually the same as REV’s, “solar everywhere at any cost.” VPIRG is where SunCommon was born. It frequently serves as the training ground for future SunCommon employees. Duane Peterson, co-president of SunCommon, is a trustee of VPIRG. Matthew Rubin is also a trustee of VPIRG, and he serves on the SunCommon board of advisors and is a board member of REV. There are times at which employees of VPIRG and SunCommon seem indistinguishable.
Solutions
• Compel each municipality to provide an amount of renewable energy in proportion with its population. This would not only avoid the problems of overburdening certain towns, but it would also be in better alignment with the state’s goals for a distributed energy grid.
• If municipalities are made responsible for providing their share of the state’s renewable energy, leave it to municipal governments to create siting and screening regulations.
• If a municipality wishes to produce more renewable energy than its required share, it should be remunerated so that additional funds accrue into the town.
• Treat the application approval process the same for all renewable energy projects over 50 kW.
• The Legislature and state agencies should perform an annual cost-benefit analysis of emerging technologies, such as HVDC. High voltage direct current cabling could bring into Vermont 400 MW of power generated by wind and hydro in upstate New York and Canada at a cost about half of what we pay for the most efficient solar energy while sparing the disfigurement of 4,000 acres of the Vermont landscape.
• In order to stop the unruly current solar gold rush, we should consider a moratorium on new solar installations until the Solar Siting Task Force has delivered its recommendations this coming January and until the Legislature passes legislation that corrects most of the defects in our existing energy policy.
The full-length version of this discussion is available here: https://goo.gl/mEZaDK.
