Lawmakers on the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee, which is working on the bill, have said they don’t consider her analysis to be a complete picture, or even a helpful model of the projected costs.
In the long run, the clean heat standard is expected to save Vermonters $6.4 billion and reduce climate emissions 34% by 2030. But this week, Secretary Julie Moore sat before lawmakers to highlight the upfront expenses.
As many as 25 to 30 of the state’s 139 organic dairy farms are at risk of going out of business in the first half of 2023 without “swift and substantial intervention,” a NOFA-VT policy director told lawmakers.
Scott said he has carved out $900,000 for the Climate Office in the Agency of Natural Resources “to do the real planning and analysis we need to reach emissions targets accurately and realistically."
The new rules bring Vermont in line with federal standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency, but maintain “the status quo,” environmental groups say. They hoped the state would regulate pesticides as a “method of last resort.”
The project, which would rank among the largest solar arrays in the state, is in the beginning of its process with the Public Utility Commission.
Scientists in Vermont have documented the state’s rapidly warming winters. As snowmakers hustle to keep pace with the changes in weather conditions, skiers are feeling the impacts.
“No one can say, well, we don't have this problem in Vermont,” said Sen. Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden, “because Slate Ridge has been a problem for a while now.”
The state pesticide rules haven’t been updated in more than 30 years. A new proposal would align state regulations with those of the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
As the climate changes, will more intense and frequent storms make it harder for utilities like Washington Electric Cooperative to survive?
