Current News

by Vermont Treasurer Beth Pearce Clean water is the backbone to Vermont’s economy and is vital to the health and wellbeing of all our citizens. Not only is clean water an essential natural resource – it is also an integral part of our character as a state.

Despite common ground and a consensus from policymakers and citizens that we need to protect and preserve our most precious natural resources, the quality of our waterways has degraded as phosphorus and other pollutants have damaged the long-term health of our lakes and rivers. Lake Champlain and Lake Carmi are painful examples of the status of our waterways. It is time to recognize our current situation as a crisis.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Electric Power Company (VELCO) will hold two public input sessions -- May 2 and May 9 -- to share the findings and receive feedback on the public review draft of the 2018 Vermont Long-Range Transmission Plan.

The plan is required by law to identify where electric load growth over the next 20 years may drive the need for system reliability investments, and to share that information in sufficient time to consider alternatives to building poles and wires. In recent years, however, electric demand has been declining due to distributed energy resources, energy efficiency and economics, and other trends that are reshaping the electric grid. The 2018 Vermont Long-Range Transmission Plan looks closely at these trends, analyzing possible future scenarios based on increased distributed generation and state energy policy.

Vermont Business Magazine Norwich University has earned two grants totaling over $170,549 from the National Security Agency (NSA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to host two summer camps. Now in its fourth year, GenCyber@NU will be joined by a new advanced camp, GenCyberForensics@NU. The camps will teach high school juniors and seniors about CyberSecurity.

by Christine McGowan, Forest Program Director, Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund If you ask Malcolm Cooper Jr. how long he has been involved with J.K. Adams, he’ll tell you 68 years, or since the day he was born. His father, an engineer by training, bought a half interest in the Dorset woodworking business in the fall of 1949. “I don’t recall us ever talking about sports or political news around the dinner table,” says Malcolm. “It was always about the business and how to drive the business forward.”

Vermont Business Magazine Not that long ago, the Hollister Hill Apartments on Austin Road in Plainfield were a rather bleak example of 1970’s architecture that had seen better days. The Housing Foundation, Inc. had a vision to rebuild them, rendering them into comfortable, affordable, and functional units for their tenants to call home. They did so in part by embracing renewable energy in the form of a central wood pellet boiler.

This is the third location where The Housing Foundation has installed a pellet boiler for their units, the others being Colonial Manor Apartments in Morristown and Fairground Apartments in Moretown, with hopes for future projects. Krister Adams, Development Specialist with the Vermont State Housing Authority, said, “Wood pellet boilers are a relatively simple heating system. We have found them to be cost effective and reliable. Plus, using wood as a heat source is environmentally sound and helps our local economy.”

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA) has approved $9.3 million in loans to help support commercial, agricultural, energy and small business projects throughout Vermont. Projects include: Trapp Family Lodge, Inc., Stowe; Mocha Joe's Roasting Company, Inc., Brattleboro; Greensea Systems, Inc, Richmond; The Grass Gauchos, LLC, Colchester; Skinny Pancake, Inc., Burlington; The Lambert Farm, Washington; New Haven GLC Solar, LLC, New Haven; Sean & Danica Rolfe, Lyndonville; and Vermont Tree Goods, LLC in Bristol.

"With the help of VEDA financing, several companies are enhancing their production capabilities, a technology firm is expanding, and renewable energy projects are being developed," said Jo Bradley, VEDA's Chief Executive Officer. "In addition, $5.4 million was approved in agricultural loans to help farms diversify, and to help dairy farmers counter the effects of several years of low milk prices."

Vermont Business Magazine US Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) have led a bipartisan group of Senators in asking U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to provide information regarding recent reports of Chinese authorities abusing Interpol red notices to harass dissidents living abroad and threaten suspects’ family members who remain in China in an attempt to compel their return.

Leonine Public Affairs The political fireworks continued this week on the heels of the gun safety debate that dominated the bulk of the 2018 session. S.103, a chemical regulation bill that removed the consideration of certain scientific criteria from the regulatory process and gave the Commissioner of Health unprecedented authority to ban children's products, was taken up for a veto override vote by the House. The bill was vetoed by the Governor Phil Scott last week because he did not think it created additional safety measures and instead made the regulatory process more arbitrary and unscientific. The veto of was first overridden in the Senate by a vote of 22-8.

Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment claims spiked last week. For the week of April 21, 2018, there were 952 claims, 327 more than than they were the previous week, but 189 fewer than they were a year ago. Altogether 5,528 new and continuing claims were filed, an increase of 257 from a week ago, but 720 fewer than a year ago. For most weeks of 2017 and into 2018 claims have been below the year before.

Vermont Business Magazine Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont (BCBSVT) reminds its members of their access to telemedicine benefits and shares new service offerings effective in 2018. For years, BCBSVT has provided its members access to the largest, most extensive network of providers within Vermont and the U.S. Last year, to further provide members with the most current and convenient access to medical care, BCBSVT partnered with American Well® (Amwell) to give members 24/7/365 access to doctors via telemedicine.

Vermont Business Magazine An increasing number of Americans are choosing to support businesses committed to addressing social issues in their community. Finding organizations dedicated to creating positive social change has proven challenging, however – until now. The launch of Weaver’s Social Enterprise Directory marks the release of the first publicly available, online directory of over 1,000 social enterprises throughout the United States.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan joined a coalition of 27 states, cities, and counties to fight for clean air and oppose the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan. The Clean Power Plan is the first nationwide limit on climate change pollution from existing fossil fuel-burning power plants.

“The Clean Power Plan plays a key role in protecting our environment,” said Attorney General Donovan. “We’re seeing the impacts of climate change in Vermont with increasingly severe storms and rising temperatures that could threaten our ski and maple industries. Vermont has been a part of helping defend the Clean Power Plan for years and we will continue to work to protect clean air, Vermont’s environment and the public health of all Vermonters.”