This is a news release from the administration including the text of Gov. Peter Shumlin’s inaugural address Thursday, in which he laid out Part I of his third-term agenda, focusing on initiatives critical to working families, economic growth and Vermont’s quality of life in the areas of energy and the environment.
HARNESSING THE CLEAN ENERGY ECONOMY TO CREATE JOBS
“No one knows better than Vermonters how to turn a challenging adversity like climate change into opportunity,” Gov. Shumlin said in his Inaugural Address. “Just look at our burgeoning green energy industry. Through Vermont innovation and collaboration, partnered with creative public policy and regulation, we are pioneering the development and deployment of locally generated, low carbon energy, creating jobs and putting money in Vermonter’s pockets while we do it.”
Comparing the economic potential of today’s emerging clean energy industry to the promise held by Vermont’s ski industry in the 20th century, the Governor commented, “We can see a new wave of innovation and job creation in those who are now powering Vermont forward in the renewable energy industry.”
As an example, he pointed to Vermonters like Dayton Brown and Graham Fisk, who work at SunCommon in Waterbury. Brown, a Vermont Tech graduate who served in Afghanistan as a member of the Vermont Air National Guard, now works as a solar system designer. Fisk, a Middlebury College graduate, returned to Vermont from New York to work as a solar home advisor. Both are members of a growing clean energy workforce that consists of over 15,000 Vermonters.
And it’s not just jobs; the clean energy sector is saving Vermonters money. At a time when neighboring states have seen double digit increases in electricity rates, Vermont’s largest utility, Green Mountain Power, was able to reduce rates by 2.46 percent last year.
For all these reasons, Vermont can and must do more to harness the economic potential of the clean energy economy. To do that, the Governor is proposing the Energy Innovation Program (EIP) to replace the SPEED program, which is set to expire in 2017. If implemented, the EIP is projected to:
· Create over 1,000 new jobs;
· Save Vermonters hundreds of millions of dollars on their energy bills; and
· Cut greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 15 million metric tons, nearly a quarter of the reduction needed for Vermont to be on track to meet its 2050 climate goal.
The EIP would accomplish this by setting new renewable electricity requirements for Vermont while:
· Prioritizing community-scale renewable projects to add hundreds of megawatts of new local energy generation to Vermont’s electric portfolio over the course of the program, including new projects that qualify for net metering or the Standard Offer program;
· Setting incentives for utilities to help customers save money and cut fossil fuel use through energy innovation projects. These would include projects where utilities provide leasing or on-bill financing options to help customers do deeper efficiency improvements, or install cold-climate heat pumps, solar water heating and geothermal or biomass heating, for example. These projects will help Vermonters reduce their total energy costs and impact a sector of energy use, heating, that right now contributes significantly to our climate change problem.
To highlight that last point, the Governor invited Mark and Sara Borkowski of Rutland to join him for the speech. They received financing assistance to help retrofit their home in Rutland, in partnership with their utility, Green Mountain Power. As a result, they were able to weatherize their home and install solar panels, cold-climate heat pumps, and efficient lighting and appliances. The Borkowskis have virtually eliminated their home heating oil use and cut their electric consumption by half. Under the Governor’s EIP proposal, thousands of additional Vermonters would have the same opportunity to significantly cut their energy use.
“If we work together to enact this legislation, it will mark our single biggest step so far toward reaching our climate and renewable energy goals,” the Governor said. “Jobs, energy savings, and emissions reductions make this program a true win for our economy and our environment.”
CLEANING UP LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND OTHER VERMONT WATERWAYS
“We know what makes Vermont the best place in America. Without our mountains, hills, and valleys; our farms, streams, lakes, and forests – remote, quiet, and rooted in rugged marble, slate, and granite – Vermont would be just another place to live,” Gov. Shumlin said in his Inaugural Address. “Our natural habitat binds Vermonters tightly to our state, and it inspires others to put roots down here.”
Noting that Lake Champlain alone brings in hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity for the state each year, the Governor called eroding water quality there heartbreaking and “the greatest threat to our local environment. Protection of this lake is critical to protecting our economy.”
The Governor praised the efforts of those working tirelessly to clean up the lake, including Vermont’s congressional delegation, community groups like the Friends of Northern Lake Champlain and the Lewis Creek Association, local leaders like Denise Smith, business owners like the Tylers of Tyler Place and Bob Beach of the Basin Harbor Club, organizations like the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce, and farmers like Tim Magnant in Franklin and Brian Kemp in Salisbury, who are showing that it is possible to use innovative, practical, and cost-effective solutions to the problem of pollution on our farms.
The Governor pledged to be a partner in these efforts and marshal the resources of the state to build on the good work being done. The Administration will work to implement the Lake Champlain restoration plan submitted to the EPA last spring, the most comprehensive and strategic effort yet undertaken by Vermont to protect and restore the state’s waters. The plan focuses on areas of greatest pollution where Vermont can make the most impact with the resources it has.
To help implement that plan, the Governor laid out a four-point agenda he will work with the Legislature to accomplish:
· Assist towns in meeting their obligation to maintain roads to prevent runoff leading to erosion, which will keep nutrients and sediment out of Vermont’s water, by helping them implement modern storm water management systems that capture and treat the polluted runoff from roads, streets and parking lots.
· Direct significant new resources to help farmers and loggers reduce water pollution from their operations, keep livestock out of Vermont’s streams, and seek more careful management of tilling practices and manure application.
· Redouble efforts – working with Attorney General Bill Sorrell – to enforce water quality regulations in the Lake Champlain Basin and around Vermont.
· Add teeth to hold the relatively few farmers not already doing the right thing more accountable by denying the tax benefit of current use if they do not come into compliance and follow the practices that prevent pollution, like the state does for loggers.
To pay for that agenda, the Governor will use increased federal dollars, as well as money from the capital budget, Vermont Housing and Conservation Board (VHCB) and a new dedicated state Clean Water Fund.
The capital budget will include $6.75 million for technical assistance and direct investment in water quality projects in the Lake Champlain Basin and around the state. This includes $1.6 million in state matching funds which will leverage $8.2 million in federal EPA grants for a total of $9.8 million for low-interest loans to municipalities through the clean water state revolving fund. The capital budget also increases to $3.75 million funding for innovative storm water management projects, and $1.4 million in funding for the Agency of Agriculture’s cost sharing program for livestock fencing and other measures. The Transportation bill also includes $3.2 million for storm water retrofits and other projects to reduce polluted runoff from our back roads.
The Governor urged that funding for VHCB be maintained, even in this difficult budget year, to conserve working forests, farmland, and important natural areas to support water quality and that conservation projects funded by VHCB support farms and forestry operations that protect and improve water quality.
Finally, the Governor announced the establishment of the Clean Water Fund and proposed funding sources to raise approximately $5 million this year to strengthen water quality efforts significantly through two mechanisms:
· A fee on agricultural fertilizers that will raise approximately $1 million to address farm practices;
· And an impact fee to be paid only by owners of commercial and industrial parcels within the Lake Champlain watershed. The annual fee will be modest, amounting to $100-$200 for a typical large parcel, recognizing that many of those businesses already contribute for their storm water management practices. This is expected to raise $4-6 million.
The Clean Water Fund will be structured so that it can serve as a repository for additional federal and private funding sources, including a generous donation announced today from Keurig Green Mountain. Keurig will provide up to $5 million over the next five years for work by scientists at UVM and Limnotech to benefit water quality in the state that launched Keurig’s success. He thanked Keurig CEO Brian Kelly and his team for their vision and commitment that will pay dividends for Vermont and Lake Champlain for years to come.
“I hope Keurig’s generosity and focus on the importance of water quality will inspire others to aid our efforts,” he said.
“Vermonters have lost patience with finger pointing about who is to blame for poor water quality. We are now working together across the divides that can exist among advocates, businesses, farmers, neighbors and government to get the job done,” the Governor said. “I need your support to ensure that the State of Vermont does its part, and I look forward to working with you this session to launch a new era of clean water in Vermont. This effort will be part of our legacy. The time to act is now.”
PLAYING TO VERMONT’S STRENGTHS AND LOOKING AHEAD TO PART II
Concluding his speech, the Governor said that Vermont has a bright future but must leverage its strengths to grow the state’s economy.
“It is a competitive world out there – other states are offering millions of dollars in tax breaks to lure companies – but there are things the great little state of Vermont has that cannot easily be created elsewhere – our natural beauty, our clean air, our rural nature, and our resilient, innovative, and entrepreneurial people. These represent our competitive strengths and are treasured parts of our economic engine that we must protect, nurture and grow. I hope you will agree that the proposals I’ve outlined today will help us do that.”
The Governor will outline Part II of his Agenda for Progress in his annual Budget Address on Jan. 15.
