Current News

by Ayla Yersel and Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine About a third of Vermont small businesses have dropped their health insurance since the inception of Vermont Health Connect, according to a new survey, while very few companies have signed on. But it is very likely that nearly all those individuals employed in small businesses in Vermont have migrated to the state health insurance Exchange.

Vermont Business Magazine and the Ethan Allen Institute conducted a statewide survey over the last several months asking whether small businesses offering health insurance to their employees in 2013 continued to do so in 2014. These businesses reported 50 or fewer employees and therefore were required to offer health insurance under Vermont Health Connect.

Vermont Business Magazine Driven by an increase in the number of employed and a drop in the number of unemployed, the Vermont Department of Labor announced today that the seasonally-adjusted statewide unemployment rate for April 2014 was 3.3 percent. This represents a decrease of one-tenth of a percent from the March rate of 3.4 percent. The comparative national average was 6.3 percent, which was down four-tenths of a percent from March. April 2014 data represents the seventh consecutive reported monthly decrease to the statewide unemployment rate in Vermont. Vermont’s unemployment rate remains the second lowest in the country (North Dakota 2.6 percent).

by John Herrick vtdigger.org The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant’s operator said Thursday it will apply for state approval to build a second concrete pad to store spent nuclear fuel on site in dry casks. The company will ask state regulators June 30 for permission to build a security-protected pad adjacent to an existing one currently holding 13 dry casks, Entergy officials said. Each cask holds about 68 spent fuel assemblies

Entergy, a Louisiana-based company that operates the plant in Vernon, announced last year it will close the plant by the end of the year. The proposed project would allow the company to transfer spent nuclear fuel from a storage pool into steel- and concrete-reinforced dry casks. The radioactive material would remain in the casks indefinitely.

Dry cask storage units at Vermont Yankee.

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine Using a US Senate hearing on nuclear plant decommissioning, Chris Recchia, Commissioner of the Vermont Public Service Department, left no doubt that he felt the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is failing in its oversight of nuclear waste storage and the need for continued emergency planning after a plant is decommissioned. He said the NRC is leaving the states without recourse in the decommissioning process, even though the spent nuclear waste will remain onsite for the foreseeable future because there is no place to send it. He also doubted the wisdom that under an NRC proposal, spent fuel would be allowed to sit in a spent fuel pool instead of being transferred to dry cask storage.

A funding mechanism that allows customers get solar electricity without the usual up-front costs has gone online in Rutland. Built by NRG Residential Solar Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of NRG Energy, Inc (NYSE:NRG), the solar farm is now delivering power to area residents. The 150 kilowatt photovoltaic solar array provides power to 50 Green Mountain Power customers who signed-up for the project.

“With the partnership of Green Mountain Power and the strong support of the leadership and residents of Rutland, NRG has been able to build a truly revolutionary solar program to help meet the electrical needs of the city,” said Denise Wilson, Executive Vice President, New Businesses. “This community solar project makes solar a possibility for all Rutland customers.”

The array was built on Hillside Avenue, just off Woodstock Avenue.

Vermont Business Magazine Today Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) introduced the Opportunities in Organic Act, legislation designed to help farmers and other agricultural producers transition to organic practices and build successful and sustainable businesses. Organic agriculture enriches rural economies, protects biodiversity and soil health, and supports public health, but farmers face steep barriers to entry, including high certification costs and insufficient technical assistance from existing United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs. The Opportunities in Organic Act helps mitigate these challenges by modernizing reimbursements for organic certification and expanding available technical expertise for organic agriculture within USDA.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, in a vote of 107-42, the Vermont House of Representatives voted to override Governor Phil Scott’s veto of S.5, the Affordable Heat Act. The veto override vote comes on the heels of the Vermont Senate’s 20-10 vote to override the veto, meaning the bill will now become law despite the governor’s efforts to rally Vermonters to oppose the bill and the fact-finding process it would initiate.

Vermont Business Magazine A coalition of organizations led by the Northern Forest Center has been awarded $1 million from the U.S. National Science Foundation's (NSF) Regional Innovation Engines program. The coalition is among more than 40 unique teams that received one of the first-ever NSF Engines Development Awards, which aim to help partners collaborate to create economic, societal, and technological opportunities for their regions. Composed of leading forest institutions across Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, the new Coalition of Northern Forest Innovation and Research aims to accelerate innovations in forest ecosystem management and forest products and open new markets that depend on thriving forests in northern New England. The NSF Engines Development Awards will help support the coalition in creating regional connections and local forest innovation ecosystems within two years to prepare strong proposals for becoming future NSF Engines, which will each have the opportunity to receive up to $160 million.

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Health Network – Home Health & Hospice announced Christine Werneke, MS, has been selected as President and Chief Operating Officer of the organization. Werneke has served as interim president during the search for a permanent replacement for Adrianne Johnson Ross, who stepped down from the role in January. Werneke previously served Home Health & Hospice for six years in various leadership roles prior to the organization’s affiliation with the UVM Health Network, and is committed to supporting the team’s social mission. She was chosen for her leadership and commitment to Home Health & Hospice and the community.

Vermont Business Magazine The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Wildlife Services, in coordination with the Vermont Department of Health, has scheduled a special bait drop this month to address a local wildlife rabies outbreak in Chittenden County. This effort is in addition to the statewide bait drop that occurs annually in August. Beginning today, May 11, rabies vaccine – in the form of a sweet-smelling oral bait that is attractive to raccoons and skunks – will be dropped from a low-flying helicopter and placed by hand in residential areas. Rabies is a deadly viral disease of the brain that infects mammals and without post-exposure treatment is fatal to both humans and animals. In Vermont, rabies is most often seen in raccoons, skunks, foxes, bats and woodchucks, but pets and livestock can also get the disease if they have not been vaccinated for rabies. The virus is spread primarily through the bite of an infected animal.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Peter Welch’s (D-Vermont) Testing, Rapid Analysis, and Narcotic Quality (TRANQ) Research Act advanced out of the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation today with bipartisan support, a significant step forward in enacting this important bill to expand our understanding of xylazine, a sedative also known as Tranq, and other novel synthetic drugs now present in the illicit drug supply. This follows a Monday roundtable discussion hosted by Senator Welch in Burlington on the growing number of overdoses in Vermont and the increased presence of fentanyl, xylazine, and other synthetic opioids in the local supply of many illicit drugs.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Habitat Stamp raised $221,337 in 2022 and leveraged a $228,567 federal match, totaling just under $450,000 for the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department’s land conservation and habitat improvement efforts. The Vermont Habitat Stamp is designed to allow anyone who cares about conservation to help improve habitat for species as diverse as pollinators, songbirds, migratory fish, and large mammals. Habitat Stamp funds go towards both land acquisitions adding to the department’s more than 130,000 acres of Wildlife Management Area (WMA) properties, and implementing habitat improvement projects across the state. In 2022, the department spent $168,532 from the Habitat Stamp Fund. These dollars contributed to removing dams to increase stream connectivity for brook trout, controlling the spread of invasive plants that diminish the quality of shelter and forage for native insects and birds, and expanding the Otter Creek WMA in Wallingford.