[G]ov. Phil Scott announced Friday that Vermont will join the U.S. Climate Alliance.
The alliance is a bipartisan coalition of states committed to meeting the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement — in spite of Republican President Donald Trump’s decision Thursday to walk away from the deal.
Scott and fellow Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker issued a letter to Trump last month urging the president to back the agreement, which would have reduced U.S. carbon emissions by 26 percent.
On Friday, the two governors, both Republicans, joined the alliance in defiance of the 2016 Republican Party platform, which calls for the United States to withdraw from the agreement.
Since Trump reneged on the Paris deal, a coalition of states, including New York, Washington and California have signed on with the group. Connecticut governor Dannel Malloy on Friday also announced that his state would join the alliance.
Early Friday afternoon, Vermont Democrats took a swing at Scott before he issued a statement backing the alliance, casting the governor as a supporter of Trump’s pull out from the Paris Climate Agreement.
Conor Casey, executive director of the Vermont Democratic Party, called on Scott to enter into an alliance with other states.
The United States, Syria and Nicaragua are the only nations not participating in the Paris Climate Agreement.
Scott last month signaled a willingness to buck his party’s position on the Paris Agreement, but Democrats say the buck should not stop there.
“Scott … has offered virtually no meaningful proposals to address” the issue of global warming, said Vermont Democratic Party Chairman Faisal Gill in a statement issued Friday morning.
Sen. Chris Pearson, P/D-Chittenden, says he would have written legislation to uphold the Paris Agreement if Scott had not taken action on his own.
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