Current News

A federal court on Tuesday overturned the Bush administration's last attempt to weaken rules governing management of America’s 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Bush rules, issued April 21, 2008, repealed key protections for national forests mandated under the National Forest Management Act (NFMA).
The case was filed by a coalition of conservation groups -- including the Vermont Natural Resources Council -- represented by Earthjustice. The ruling was handed down by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
The effect of the ruling in Vermont is that important safeguards will need to be maintained on the Green Mountain National Forest, according to Jamey Fidel, forest and biodiversity program director of Vermont Natural Resources Council.

As part of a multi-site settlement, G-I Holdings Inc. has agreed to address asbestos contamination caused by its past operation of the largest chrysotile asbestos mine and mill in the country, the United States and the state of Vermont announced Thursday. The deal includes $7.75 million to secure the site, up to $26 million to cleanup the site, and $850,000 to offset environmental damage. The deal does not include the current owners of the site, Vermont Asbestos Group of Morrisville, whom the state has also sued. The site has been closed since 1993.

Vermonters interested in the workings of their state government now have a powerful new tool: www.vttransparency.org. The new website, a joint venture of Ethan Allen Institute of Kirby and Public Assets Institute of Montpelier, has a wealth of information about state revenues and spending, both current and historical.
It allows viewers to search state payments to vendors and compensation of state employees. It offers links to federal stimulus spending, economic development credits, rainy day funds, school district spending and outcomes, and municipal web pages.

The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) has announced that, as a result of a bridge inspection completed earlier this year, repairs will be made to the Lake Champlain Bridge, also known as the Crown Point Bridge, spanning Lake Champlain between Crown Point, New York and Chimney Point, Vermont.
Work will incorporate the use of a temporary signal system to control one-way, alternating traffic operations anticipated to begin on Friday, July 3. Motorists may encounter significant travel delays.
During the inspection, completed in June 2009, several areas of steel deterioration to the bridge s truss system were discovered. The weight posting on the bridge will also be reduced to 40 tons, the legal maximum load on a New York State bridge without a special permit. Legally-loaded tractor trailers will be permitted to use the bridge; however, overweight vehicles will be prohibited.

Magic Mountain, a classic ski area located in southern Vermont, has announced that it is officially selling shares of the mountain effectively offering ownership opportunities for skiers, snowboarders and enthusiasts of the mountain. As the second ski resort in New England to ever offer ownership to its pass holders and customers, Magic Mountain shareholders will enjoy an equity position in the mountain, season pass discounts, reduced ticket prices, and voting rights in operational decisions. Modeled after the Mad River Glen ski area co-op, the opportunity for individual ownership aims to increase customer loyalty, and fund significant upgrades to the resort.
After reviewing the success of Mad River Glen, we realized that we had a tremendous opportunity to allow loyal fans of Magic Mountain to invest in something special and participate in saving and reviving a classic Vermont ski area, said Jim Sullivan, President, Magic Mountain.

How many light bulbs does it take to change your outlook? Kenneth Coe, educational technology specialist at Green Mountain College s Griswold Library, has one answer: 505. This summer Coe and a few helpers began replacing existing 32 watt fluorescent bulbs in the three-story library building with more energy efficient, longer lasting 28 watt bulbs. By removing a total of 505 older bulbs, the library has cut its electricity use by 34%, a reduction that will save the College an estimated 62,216 kilowatt hours a year.
To put this in perspective, we use 350 kilowatt hours a month at my house, said Coe. This yearly savings is enough to cover my family s energy consumption for the next 178 months, or 14.8 years.

Eight community health centers in Vermont will receive almost $4.9 million in economic stimulus funds to address immediate and pressing facility and equipment needs. The $4.9 million is Vermont s latest allotment from $2 billion that was set aside for Federally Qualified Health Centers in the economic recovery bill that Congress passed last February 13.
The Vermont grants include $877,690 for Community Health Centers of The Rutland Region in Bomoseen; $485,900 for Little Rivers Health Care of Bradford; $699,995 for Community Health Center of Burlington; $717,500 for Community Health Services of the Lamoille Valley in Morrisville; $462,310 for The Health Center of Plainfield; $519,220 for the Richford Health Center in Richford; $881,820 for Northern Counties Health Care in St. Johnsbury, and $250,000 for Springfield Medical Care Systems in Springfield.

Vermont Lt. Governor Brian Dubie was on hand in Kourou, French Guiana, yesterday where Terrestar Networks launched the world s largest commercial satellite from Arianespace s Guiana Space Center at midday. A pilot project to test the revolutionary, 4G technology on board the $300 million communications satellite has been planned since 2007 to take place in Vermont s Northeast Kingdom.
To view the launch of TerreStar-1,click here for LAUNCH. Or see longer news video below.
Dubie said in a written statement: As chair of the Governor s Homeland Security Advisory Council, I know how important wireless mobile communications capability is especially in times of disaster, when land-based networks might experience widespread failure. TerreStar s 4G technology is absolutely dazzling. But we are in the business of helping people, and what s important is that this technology will help us keep Vermonters safe and serve them in times of need.

Commissioner Paulette Thabault of the Vermont Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration(BISHCA) released today the 2009 Health Resource Allocation Plan (“the HRAP”), a comprehensive document that supports Vermont’s most important health policy goals. Among those goals are: enhancing chronic care management, promoting wellness, achieving cost effective care, and the integration of mental health and substance abuse services with other health services. The HRAP incorporates a diverse group of professional and consumer perspectives on Vermont’s health care system.

A Bennington, Vermont, defense contractor is part of a billion-dollar US Military contract to build more armored vehicles for use in Afghanistan. The Plasan North America plant is expected to hire 200 workers to fulfill the contract, while the deal could also generate another 100 new jobs with subcontractors in the region.

In the last six months MyWebGrocer s customer reach has grown 40%, to 3.8 million monthly grocery shoppers. This expanded consumer demand has seen a matching growth in CPG programs running on the network. To meet this demand, MyWebGrocer s advertising team has promoted Helen Earling to lead an expanding Midwest team.
Helen Earling joined the MyWebGrocer team in October 2007 with a decade of industry knowledge and experience. Her continued success and leadership has lead to her recent promotion to Senior Vice President of Western Ad Sales. Earling has been instrumental in helping MyWebGrocer s key Midwest advertisers, Kellogg's and General Mills.
Helen has been a driving force in MyWebGrocer s continued success and I m excited about her building out an expanded team in Minnesota to better serve our Western customers. Alec Newcomb, Vice President, MyWebGrocer.

Chroma Technology Corp, an employee-owned company, announced today the launch of a new, wholly-owned subsidiary. 89 North, located in Burlington, VT, will leverage resources from the area including the University of Vermont and the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies to develop innovative products for the life science imaging market. Their initial focus will be on high-power light sources for fluorescence imaging, and they will immediately take over sales and support for the Photofluor II, Chroma s metal halide-based light source.