Editor’s note: This commentary is by state Rep. Mary Sullivan, of Burlington, a Democrat who represents Chittenden District 6-5 (South End/Hill Section of Burlington) in the Vermont House of Representatives.
[B]ecause I strongly believe that climate change is – by far – the most pressing global issue we are dealing with I believe it is incumbent on us, especially our political leaders, to do everything we can to reduce emissions. It will take all of us doing our parts, and it will take big visionary thinking at the state, national and international levels.
As I have looked around to find out what other states are doing some definitely stand out. California, under Gov. Jerry Brown’s leadership, has just reached their 2020 goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels two years early. This is very impressive. And they are on target to achieve the 2030 goal of 40 percent reduction and the 2050 goal of an 80 percent reduction. To achieve goals it takes vision; it takes planning; it takes programs. The state of Washington under the leadership of Gov. Jay Inslee is also impressive. After President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris Climate Accord, Gov. Inslee stepped up to the plate by leading the U.S. Climate Alliance, a group of different entities including other states to uphold the Paris Agreement. Gov. Kate Brown of Oregon also has led on this front since taking the reins in 2017.
Unfortunately Vermont cannot stand shoulder to shoulder with these states and several others. The latest Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory (1990-2015) was recently released by Vermont’s Department of Environmental Conservation, and it shows that carbon pollution is soaring in Vermont. Despite some obvious work that has been done such as building more wind turbines and installing more solar panels (Vermont electricity sector does stand out) our emissions have risen to 16 percent higher than they were in 1990, with most of that increase happening in the last four years. Almost 50 percent of our emissions have come from the transportation sector, and we have done way too little to reduce them.
In Vermont we have set some impressive goals in order to reduce our emissions. These are goals almost everyone says they support including Gov. Phil Scott. But our governor, unlike other governors, does not back up the goals with specific actions. They are not backed up by the budget that the governor submits to the Legislature every January. In fact the governor will not rule out using some of the Volkswagen settlement money to subsidize fossil fuel.
I’m just finishing up reading the book “Dark Money,” which clearly outlines how the Koch brothers funded major campaigns to persuade people to doubt the science behind global warming and also to persuade them to think that putting a price on carbon so that we can safely transition our economy to clean energy is the worst public policy imaginable. And if you don’t think it can happen here, VTDigger wrote a story this week headlined, “Koch-backed PAC starts spending again on Scott’s campaign.”
Let’s not have Vermont fall victim to Koch brothers funding where promoting fossil fuel keeps them fabulously wealthy while it makes things worse for just about everyone else.
It is important to remember that the state has a lot of control over the price of electricity that we use. Each utility must make a case before the Public Utility Commission showing that a rate hike is needed. Gas prices at the pump go up and down at the whim of the suppliers. We don’t want our low and middle income Vermonters showing up at the pump one day to discover that gas prices have risen to $5 a gallon. That could and most likely will happen. Let’s make sure we start working on alternatives before that day arrives.
If we were on target to achieve our goals our greenhouse gas emissions would have been 25 percent below the emissions of 1990 in 2012. If we took these goals seriously we’d have solid plans in place on how to achieve the 50 percent reduction goal by 2028. But we don’t. This administration continues to express support for these goals without having any plans to achieve them.
It takes vision; it takes leadership. Let’s get Vermont out leading again on environmental issues as we have done in the past.
