Current News

McGraw-Hill Construction has reported that December contracts for future construction in the state of Vermont showed an increase of 46 percent for a total of $68.7 million. For 2010, the total was $880 million, down 15 percent for the year.
An authority on the construction market, the firm produces Dodge Reports and Sweets Catalog Files. According to the Research and Analytics unit of McGraw-Hill Construction, the latest month's construction activity followed this pattern:

The New Hampshire report showed contracts down 17 percent for December, but up 4 percent for the year.

Vermont Nut Free Chocolates, makers of nut free, gourmet specialty products, is now offering MetaBall, a new product line of energy snacks that are safe for those with peanut and tree nut allergies, to select retailers in New York. Made from the finest, all-natural ingredients, MetaBall is manufactured in a completely nut free environment by Vermont Nut Free Chocolates under license from Beyond The Mirror, LLC.

Governor Peter Shumlin today highlighted the Governor’s Career Readiness Certificate (CRC), which ensures that Vermont workers meet industry-created national training standards to fill cutting edge jobs. He also urged prospective and even current workers and employers to participate in the certificate program to reduce workforce turnover and strengthen the skills and quality of employees.
‘In this global economy, Vermont employers require a skilled workforce to compete,’ the Governor said at an appearance at the Cabot Creamery distribution center in Montpelier. ‘Vermont workers who possess those fundamental skills and a solid work ethic are more likely to obtain employment, and once hired, they are more likely to remain employed and advance to higher positions.’

FairPoint Communications has expanded broadband to more than 350 homes and businesses in Georgia and Fairfax.
FairPoint’s new fiber-based, high-capacity network ‘ called VantagePoint(sm) ‘ offers customers a better, faster way to communicate.
‘VantagePoint is enabling us to expand broadband service into areas with no high-speed Internet access and provide enhanced services across the state,’ said Michael K. Smith, FairPoint state president for Vermont. ‘Broadband availability opens the doors to the world for the residents and businesses in Vermont and is fundamental to the state’s future economic growth.’

Business representatives that are creating local jobs from the state's net metering projects testified Wednesday before the Vermont Legislature in support of the program's expansion.
Doug Goldsmith, chief operating officer at AllEarth Renewables, Ken Pidgeon, president of Engineers Construction, Inc., and Douglas White, project manager at J.A. Morrissey, Inc. all testified on the job-creating economic benefits of Vermont's successful net metering program.
Pidgeon's company is the design/build contractor for the Vermont Air National Guard's 2.2 MW net metered project and installed over 190 foundations for AllEarth's AllSun Trackers last year. In the coming months, that number will jump to over 575 trackers. J.A. Morrissey created another division of the company and is cross-training the majority of their staff to meet growing renewable energy business, White testified.

The Vermont Medical Society (VMS) formally announced yesterday its opposition to a fiscal year 2012 budget proposal by Governor Peter Shumlin that would allow all Vermonters eligible for Catamount Health Plans to enroll in the state’s Medicaid program.
In opposing the proposed budget, the Society, which represents the state’s physicians, cited numerous adverse impacts the plan would likely have on the delivery of health care in Vermont, including:
* Greatly expanding the pool of Medicaid-eligible residents in Vermont, even to those with high incomes;
* A 32.8-percent cut in reimbursements to physicians treating Catamount Health Plan patients, and in general, putting the financial viability of numerous physician practices at risk;
* An increase in the number of Vermonters with Medicaid but without a doctor in their area who can afford to see them;

By Vincent Illuzzi
Environmentalists have squared off against Vermonters who want to use all terrain vehicles (ATV's) on connector trails over public lands. But a battle that pits one group of outdoor enthusiasts against another is sure to create more heat than light.
A moderate, middle way approach -- based on good science, stewardship and a case by case review of allowing limited connector trails to connect privately owned lands -- will better serve Vermont.
Vermont already welcomes diverse uses to its public lands, balancing environmental protection and sound resource management with the public's desire to use those resources in many ways.
Ski areas, television and radio stations, utility companies, schools, businesses, hunters, trappers, snowmobilers and others have all been granted use of public lands after thoughtful environmental review and the application of reasonable fees and conditions.

Groundbreaking report reveals how colleges are saving millions of dollars with an innovative green financing model
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Feb 9, 2011)’Facing rising energy costs and steep budget cuts, many colleges are grappling with how to finance urgently needed energy efficiency upgrades. In response, more schools are tapping a new option for financing sustainability improvements, while earning a high return on investment. Their successful methods are revealed in Greening the Bottom Line:The Trend toward Green Revolving Funds on Campus.Released today at www.GreeningTheBottomLine.org, the report was published by the Cambridge-based Sustainable Endowments Institute in collaboration with 11 partner organizations.

Attorney General William Sorrell has joined with other state attorneys general to express continued support of national health care reform. The group includes the attorney generals of the states of Vermont, California, New York, Connecticut, Iowa, Maryland, Delaware, and Hawaii. This group of eight attorneys general also joined together in signing an amicus brief, co-authored by Vermont, filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on January 21, 2011, regarding the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.
The joint statement from the attorneys general follows:

Seventh Generation today announced that its Board of Directors has named John Replogle to serve as the company's Chief Executive Officer and President.
Replogle, 45, has served since January 2006 as President and Chief Executive Officer of Burt's Bees, the leading Earth-friendly, natural personal care products company. Replogle previously spent three years at Unilever as General Manager, Skin Care, North America. Prior to joining Unilever, Replogle served eight years with Diageo as President of Guinness Bass Import Company, Managing Director of Guinness Great Britain and had several roles in Marketing, Sales and Strategy with Diageo. Replogle started his career as a Case Leader with the Boston Consulting Group.

Chris Cole of South Burlington, the General Manager for the Chittenden County Transportation Authority (CCTA), will direct a newly-formed division within the Agency that addresses all modes of transportation -- integrating the needs of automobiles, trucks, passenger and freight railroads, and public transit.
Cole, who has lead CCTA since 2001, and the Green Mountain Transit Agency since 2003, has been instrumental in growing Vermont’s largest public transit agency into a dynamic organization that serves a five county region in Northwestern and central Vermont. Under his leadership, CCTA has been hailed for increasing ridership by 63% since 2001, creating Vermont’s first inter-regional commuter buses connecting Burlington with Middlebury, Montpelier and St. Albans, and reducing the number of small transit agencies throughout the region into a single unified agency.

The Vermont Department of Health received laboratory data late last week from Entergy Vermont Yankee that indicates samples from groundwater monitoring well GZ-23S tested positive for low levels of tritium. Vermont Yankee’s lower limit of detection (LLD) for tritium is in the range of 670 to 700 picocuries per liter (pCi/L). The test results for the samples collected from GZ-23S during the week of January 24 were 714 and 721 pCi/L.