[G]lobal warming is undeniably taking place and could prove an “economic boon” for Vermont, Gov. Phil Scott said Thursday.
Scott said, however, that the warming of the Earth’s climate probably also carries negative effects for the U.S. and other countries.
“Climate change is going to happen — it’s happening,” he said. “When we look across the U.S. and see that climate patterns have changed dramatically — we’re seeing wildfires in California — it makes Vermont look pretty good.”
He added: “I’m not sure that there’s a financial threat” to Vermont as a result of climate change.
That’s just speculation, Scott acknowledged, speaking at a news conference outside his office. The governor said he hasn’t asked economists, analysts or scientists whether climate change will have any economic effects on Vermont.
“Climate change could be in some ways beneficial to Vermont, when we’re seeing some of the activity in California today, with the wildfires and so forth, and lack of water in some regions of the country, if we protect our resources we could use this as an economic boon, in some respects,” Scott said.
A reporter asked whether Scott meant that if refugees fleeing those wildfires and drought “have to relocate somewhere, they’d come to Vermont.”
“They’d come to Vermont, right,” Scott said.
Furthermore, climate change is spurring technological advances, he said.
“I believe we’ll see innovation as a result,” Scott said. “More electric vehicles, more energy independence as a result. I think that’s good news for all Americans, but here in Vermont as well.”
Still, the warming of Earth’s climate could have downsides for Vermont and the world’s countries, Scott said.
“Climate change, to any state, to all of us — any country — is probably going to have a negative effect on us in some way. But we are positioned, I think, we live in the Northeast, I think we’re in a pretty good position — with an abundance of water and other attributes — to look quite good as compared to other states in America. We could be the Mecca,” Scott said.
At that point Scott’s communications director, Rebecca Kelley, signaled to him that it was time for the news conference to end.
Kelley cautioned immediately after the event that Scott’s remarks shouldn’t be misconstrued.
“I think it’s clear — I just want to be sure it’s clear. … There are economic opportunities — you know, whether we (take) the renewable energy industry, for example, and the solar industry has created economic opportunity for Vermont, so identifying innovations to address climate change is the economic opportunity the governor was referring to,” Kelley said.
“Clearly, the phenomenon of climate change — as he said many times — is happening, it’s having an effect, it’s a bad thing,” Kelley said.
Scott kicked off his remarks on climate change opportunities by saying that he knew his staffers had removed references to climate change from a draft report recommending revisions to Act 250, the state’s primary land use law.
The Burlington Free Press earlier reported the edits by Scott’s staffers. The Legislature directed that the report be written with the purpose of updating Act 250 to make the 50-year-old legislation current for the next half-century of land use in Vermont.
The report still contains some references to climate change, Scott said, and his intention was merely to simplify the body of law.
