Current News

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today that up to $45 million will be provided to protect and improve soil and water quality in the Lake Champlain Basin in Vermont over the next five years. In recent years, Lake Champlain has been plagued by blue-green algae blooms that periodically become toxic. The algae blooms are the result of degraded water quality, primarily due to phosphorous pollution. Phosphorus can affect water quality by enabling excessive aquatic plant and algae growth, which can contribute to fish die offs and other environmental impacts.

“We are dedicated to protecting and improving this beautiful and unique natural resource,” Vilsack said. “This historic USDA investment will help improve water quality while assisting producers in establishing and expanding sound conservation practices.”

Vermont Business Magazine Following months of negotiations between FairPoint and its northern New England Unions, and after talks remained deadlocked more than three weeks after the prior collective bargaining agreements expired, the company announced Wednesday that it will implement its final proposals, which have been repeatedly rejected by the unions. FairPoint said in a statement that this action is permitted by federal labor law when there is no meaningful prospect for a negotiated settlement. The two sides, which have been far apart in their negotiations, had met earlier in the day in Nashua in an attempt to reach a new deal or at least move the process forward. The two unions representing workers have received approval from rank and file members to go on strike, but have not done so yet.

by John Herrick vtdigger.org The state’s transmission utility has set a price for Vermont Gas to use its utility corridor as part of its natural gas pipeline extension through Addison County. Vermont Gas spokesman Steve Wark said last week the company intends to pay $450,000 for about 51 acres within the utility corridor. The price includes access roads, he said. The company plans to route sections of a 41-mile pipeline extension through a utility corridor owned by Vermont Electric Power Co, or VELCO. Vermont Gas said it has already started site work in one section of the corridor.

Wark said Vermont Gas supports the financial agreement with VELCO but has not signed it.

“We believe it to be fair. Obviously, we would like it to be less if we could,” Wark said.

by John Herrick vtdigger.org The Shumlin administration intends to hire an independent appraiser to assess the value of landowners’ property taken through eminent domain for the construction of a natural gas pipeline through Addison County. Governor Peter Shumlin sent a letter to three lawmakers on Monday stating his concern and disappointment with Vermont Gas’ rollout of its natural gas pipeline. The company has started construction of a 41-mile pipeline extension from Chittenden and Franklin counties to Middlebury. Among Shumlin’s top concerns are the company’s belated announcement of project cost overruns and unsuccessful negotiations with some landowners along the pipeline route.

The Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission in the Upper Valley of Vermont is using $99,900 to assist in infrastructure repair and upgrade to culverts damage by Tropical Storm Irene. Irene damaged a significant portion of town-owned infrastructure across the Two Rivers-Ottauquechee region. During the storm, countless undersized culverts were severely damaged or destroyed, leading to many roads being washed out isolating residents and disrupting economic activity. Many towns need thorough culvert inventories to lessen vulnerability to extreme rain events and will use these inventories for town budgeting purposes. Prioritized lists of culvert improvements address these vulnerabilities and improve water quality at the same time.

As part of its graduate public health offerings, the University of Vermont is offering a new online Environmental Public Health graduate certificate program to give students the opportunity to study environmental public health, epidemiology, public health and health policy, as well as electives in environmental risk and communication, food systems and public health and environmental public health law.

Environmental Public Health is a multidisciplinary field that addresses the biological, chemical and physical environmental factors that can adversely affect human health. Environmental public health practitioners use the tools of epidemiology, risk assessment, risk communication, and policy to protect and improve public health.

The Lake Champlain Fish and Wildlife Management Cooperative (Cooperative) will be applying lampricides to portions of six tributaries and three delta areas of Lake Champlain during the months of September and October. The US Fish and Wildlife Service, Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife, and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation will be treating the Boquet, Ausable, Little Ausable, Salmon, and the Great Chazy rivers in New York and Lewis Creek in Vermont as part of the Cooperative’s long-term sea lamprey control program for Lake Champlain. The Boquet, Ausable, and Salmon river deltas will also be treated in New York. Treatments are scheduled to begin with the Boquet River on September 9. Treatment dates are always contingent on weather and may change with short notice.

The Vermont Small Business Development Center (VtSBDC.org) as part of its many business services is offering several workshops for those thinking about starting their own business – taking their idea and turning it into a full-fledged venture. The workshops on - “How to Start Your Own Business” are held at various locations around the state.

Got a great idea and not sure how to get going? Taking the idea and turning it into a viable business is where most great ideas get lost. So what does it take to plan, start and run a successful small business where you can realize the challenges and satisfaction of working for yourself? Take the next step and learn how to get going in the right direction. Experienced VtSBDC Business Advisors will walk you through the basics and much more in this four-hour workshop designed as a step-by-step guide for the first-time business owner.

A few workshop highlights:

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) says Vermont will receive a $42,895 grant from the US Fish and Wildlife Service to support research and monitoring of bat populations as the insidious white-nose syndrome continues to spread in Vermont, the Northeast, and beyond. Discovered in 2006 near Albany, NY, white-nose syndrome (WNS) affects hibernating bats through a fungal infection on the muzzle and other parts of the body. Affected bats act strangely and put themselves at risk during cold winter months by flying outside and clustering near the entrance of caves, according to FWS.

Two species most affected in Vermont are little brown bats and northern long-eared bats. Both have lost up to 90 percent of their populations in the last three years, and researchers fear that if the trend is not broken, the common little brown bat could completely disappear within 15 years.

Sprint has announced that its all-new network in Vermont received the first-place RootScore Award for call performance and shared the first-place RootScore Award for text performance according to a recent report by independent testing company RootMetrics. Last week Sprint also introduced new shared data plans that offer double the high-speed data at the same price as AT&T and Verizon Wireless.

“We’re very proud to report that Sprint’s all-new network offers outstanding call and text performance in Vermont,” said Joe Meyer, vice president of Sprint Network Performance. “With our new data plans, there’s never been a better time to switch to America’s Newest Network.”

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TDI New England announced today that the United States Department of Energy has issued a Notice of Intent to prepare an environmental impact statement to assess the potential environmental impacts of the proposed New England Clean Power Link transmission project. The link will carry power from the Quebec-Vermont border, under Lake Champlain and then over-land to Ludlow. This review will be done in response to TDI New England’s application for a Presidential Permit, which was filed in May 2014. According to information contained within the NOI, the DOE anticipates issuing a draft EIS for the project in April 2015 and the final EIS in October 2015. A Presidential Permit is necessary for TDI-New England to construct, operate, maintain and connect the New England Clean Power Link across the U.S-Canada border.

AT&T has turned on its 4G LTE network** in Rutland, bringing customers the latest generation of wireless network technology. This expansion is part of AT&T's Project Velocity IP (VIP), a three-year investment plan announced in Fall 2012 to expand and enhance its IP broadband networks. Through this investment, AT&T is supporting its customers' growing desire for high-speed Internet access and new mobile, app and cloud-based services. As part of Project VIP, AT&T plans to add macro cell sites nationwide by year-end 2015, as well as deploy small cells and add Distributed Antenna Systems to increase the density of its wireless network.

AT&T 4G LTE provides: