Editor’s note: Digger Tidbits is an occasional column by VTDigger.org staffers. Alan Panebaker contributed to this post.
Anti-wind groups fail to stay blasting at Lowell
Don and Shirley Nelson and two towns in the Northeast Kingdom lost ground when they attempted legal steps to stop Green Mountain Power from blasting on Lowell Mountain. The utility is dynamiting part of the site to build a road for the Kingdom Community Wind project.
Last week, the Vermont Supreme Court denied a petition for extraordinary relief the Nelsons filed, claiming the preliminary injunction issued in favor of the utility had no basis in law and violated their First Amendment rights to assemble on their own property. The court found there were other avenues of relief since the parties had pending motions for reconsideration and interlocutory appeal at the trial court level.
The Public Service Board also dealt a blow to the towns of Albany and Craftsbury — denying their motion for an emergency stay of blasting. The board found the towns lacked standing to request relief, and they had not demonstrated that Green Mountain Power had violated its certificate of public good by blasting flyrock onto the Nelsons’ property.
~Alan Panebaker
CVPS née GMP
What’s in a name? In the marriage between Central Vermont Public Service and Green Mountain Power, a tacit assumption that the deal will go through without a hitch. The state’s two biggest electric generating utilities have been working on their pre-nup agreement since July, and now they even have a name picked out — Green Mountain Power, complete with accompanying logo that in a bow to branding tradition features three green zigzags (in the form of a mountain) in lieu of three orange electric bolts.
All officials from the two sides are waiting for now is the justice of the peace (the Vermont Public Service Board) to make the union legal.
Is the branding initiative presumptuous? Not at all, says Steve Costello, the public relations manager for CVPS. Costello maintains that the name change had to be made well in advance of the PSB’s review and approval or denial of the merger. The anticipated wedding date is May or June.
~Anne Galloway
Lisman launches campaign of ideas
Bruce Lisman’s recent speech at the annual meeting for Associated Industries of Vermont was the prelude to the official launch of “Campaign for Vermont.” The campaign, Lisman says, is a platform of “mainstream” ideas about the economy, education and property taxes, health care and government accountability.
Lisman, retired chairman of the global equities division for JP Morgan Chase & Co., is a longtime booster of Vermont causes. His own project is designed to “support the economic security” of Vermonters through a campaign for “commonsense” ideas.
Some of those ideas include holding the alternative energy industry accountable for expenditures of taxpayer dollars; an expansion of the tax base instead of tax increases; re-examining the education finance system; and making budget expenditures – especially human services spending – more transparent.
Is Lisman running for office? “Not a chance,” he says. Good ideas are at the end of this campaign trail, Lisman says, not the election of an individual politician. His main objective is to get Vermonters to “re-examine assumptions.” Lisman plans to promote his ideas through speeches, op-eds and a new website.
On Monday, Lisman announced that he has formed a group of founders including Tom Pelham, a former deputy secretary of administration under Gov. James Douglas, Mary Alice McKenzie, former CEO of McKenzie of Vermont, Rep. Heidi Scheuermann, R-Stowe, and former House Speaker Walter Freed, a Republican from Manchester.
Though many of the aforementioned individuals have been Vermont GOP stalwarts, Lisman said Campaign for Vermont eschews party labels. “We think our ideas are pretty centrist in nature,” he said.
~Anne Galloway
AG’s office owes $1.7M for SUPCO case
A court case that made its way to the United States Supreme Court has cost the state about $1.7 million in legal fees so far. In June, the country’s highest court ruled against the state, deeming a law prohibiting pharmacies from selling prescription data for marketing purposes unconstitutional.
Vermont Chief Assistant Attorney General Bill Griffin said the case wound its way through the federal courts over a number of years. It resulted in dozens of depositions and thousands of pages of paper produced during the process of discovery. The state came to an agreement with the two companies that had sued in the case — IMS Health, Inc. and PhRMA — that they would not ask for attorney’s fees from the litigation in front of the Supreme Court.
In a split decision, the court found selling the data constituted speech and the state law did not meet the heightened level of scrutiny required to pass constitutional muster. Having won in the Supreme Court, the companies came back and demanded attorney’s fees for the lower court litigation. The state settled one claim for about $1.7 million. Another claim is outstanding.
Griffin said losing the case and the costs are unfortunate. The good news, he said, is that the state still receives about $25 million each year in perpetuity as a result of litigation with tobacco companies and another $17.5 million for the next few years from another case.
~Alan Panebaker
Alchemist to close pub
Jen and John Kimmich will close their popular pub spot, the Alchemist Pub & Brewery in Waterbury, for good, according to Seven Days reporter Alice Levitt.
The Kimmichs had hoped to reopen by Christmas, but their insurer didn’t cover the damage to food and kitchen and brewing equipment in the basement of the pub caused by the roiling floodwaters of Tropical Storm Irene.
The Alchemist Pub & Brewery became a fixture in Waterbury village from the moment it opened in 2001, and the Kimmichs were hailed as the best brewers in Vermont, if not New England and beyond. (They won numerous World Beer Cup competitions — and a loyal following.)
Holey Moley, Panty Dropper, Moose Knuckle, Shut the Hell Up and Broken Spoke were a few of the more memorably named 50-some-odd brews the couple sold from their corner spot.
Fortunately, the Kimmichs had an alternate plan pre-Irene. They had just started to sell one of their most popular brews, “Heady Topper,” just before the flood hit. Now they’re offering tastings and retail sales of the beer at the Alchemist Cannery and Tasting Room, 35 Crossroad in Waterbury.
