Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Peter Shumlin, citing 2013 legislative action to decriminalize possession of up to one ounce of marijuana, today announced his intention to allow Vermonters convicted of that offense prior to the law change to apply for a pardon, essentially wiping the offense off their criminal record. Applications will be accepted beginning today and taken through December 25.

“Today I am announcing an effort using the Governor’s pardoning power to expedite our move to a saner drug policy and criminal justice system,” the Governor said. “Decriminalization was a good first step in updating our outmoded drug laws. It makes no sense that minor marijuana convictions should tarnish the lives of Vermonters indefinitely.”

Shumlin said he will consider pardoning convictions of marijuana possession up to one ounce for people that do not have violent criminal Vermont convictions or felonies on their records.

Vermont Business Magazine Osterman Propane, LLC, a Massachusetts company, has agreed to pay $15,778 to 89 Vermont consumers (an average of $177 each) and $7,500 to the State of Vermont to settle claims that the company violated Vermont consumer protection laws. The Attorney General found that, since 2012, Osterman did not disclose fees to certain commercial propane users, even though Vermont’s propane law required the disclosures.

“Vermont law protects propane consumers, including many business consumers, from hidden fees. We’ve worked with the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association and been transparent about our enforcement to ensure that propane suppliers are aware of Vermont law. This is a reminder that propane dealers will be held accountable for not providing the protections required,” said Attorney General Bill Sorrell.

Vermont Business Magazine South Burlington-based Dynapower Company and Samsung SDI announced Wednesday the introduction of an integrated behind-the-meter energy storage system built on their respective proven technologies. The initial release of the system will be a 250 kW/550 kWh offering, with a 100 kW two-hour system to follow. The integrated energy storage offering provides energy storage system vendors, project developers, and utilities with a fully engineered solution that reduces costs for commercial and industrial end users in the deployment of energy storage. 

Vermont Business Magazine “Big Bertha,” the anaerobic digester at Vermont Technical College in Randolph, is operating at full capacity and successfully putting electricity onto the grid. With a carefully formulated diet of cow manure and organic matter from Vermont farms and brewery waste from the Alchemist and Long Trail Brewing Company, at full power Big Bertha transforms 16,000 gallons of waste to 8,800 kilowatt hours of electricity daily—equivalent to about 200 gallons of heating oil, or the amount of electricity consumed by about 70 houses on a cold day.

“One of only a handful of anaerobic digester projects of its kind in the country, Big Bertha provides electricity for the grid, a living laboratory for students, and recycled nutrients for agriculture,” notes Vermont Tech President, Patricia Moulton. “This project embodies Vermont Tech’s unique combination of education theory and applied learning.”

by CB Hall Vermont Business Magazine In collaboration with Troy's Couture Trucking, Burlington-based Vermont Rail System (VRS) has completed a new transload facility in Barton. The two companies will christen the new facility with an open house at noon on Thursday, December 8.

Vermont Business Magazine Trash disposal decreased 5 percent and recycling increased 2 percent between 2014 and 2015. Total waste also appears to have plateaued in Vermont to about 600,000, after closing in on 650,000 tons a year in 2007, just before the Great Recession hit. Vermont's Universal Recycling law (Act 148) was unanimously passed by the Legislature in 2012 in response to the state’s stagnant recycling rates that had hovered around 30-36 percent for nearly two decades. As much as 50 percent of Vermonts trash includes recyclable or compostable materials like food scraps and leaf and yard debris.

Vermont Business Magazine "We are very proud of the collaborative spirit and attention to detail our designers, contractor and resident engineer have utilized throughout the project. As laid clearly in the BPRW Master Plan (2015), BPRW pushed quality in everything we do. Meticulously hewn and installed steps of Barre granite, high grade carpentry at the decked overlook at Pause Place 3, and several examples of fastidiously fabricated metal work from a Burlington shop, Phase 1b of the Burlington Bike Path Rehabilitation represents a grand vision of industrial reclamation executed to the finest detail."

by Joshua Brown, UVM The ice sheet covering Greenland is four times bigger than California — and holds enough water to raise global sea-level more than 20 feet if most of it were to melt. Today, sea levels are rising, and the melting of Greenland is a major contributor. Understanding how fast this melting might proceed is a pressing question for policymakers and coastal communities.

Vermont Business Magazine Former state representative Michael Fisher will join Vermont Legal Aid as Vermont’s Chief Health Care Advocate on January 2. Fisher will lead the Office of the Health Care Advocate, which was established by the Legislature in 1998 to assist Vermonters who have questions and problems with access to health care services and health insurance and to represent the health care interests of all Vermonters in the legislature and before state agencies. 

Michael Fisher, Vermont Legal Aid Chief Health Care Advocate

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) called Wednesday on President-elect Donald Trump to keep his promise to protect Medicare and Social Security. During his campaign for president, Trump repeatedly promised to protect Medicare. But he nominated Representative Tom Price (R-GA), who has a long history of supporting cuts to Medicare, to run the Department of Health and Human Services.

Vermont Business Magazine Devonwood Investors LLC, owner and developer of the Burlington Town Center (BTC), today announced that PC Construction of South Burlington has been selected as general contractor for the $200-plus million Burlington Town Center redevelopment project. The redevelopment will reconstruct much of the existing Church Street mall, rebuild Pine and St Paul streets and add an apartment and office tower. Construction is expected to commence in the first half of 2017.

Vermont Business Magazine Today Representative Peter Welch (D-VT) sent a letter to President-Elect Donald Trump outlining practical steps he can take to steady wildly fluctuating milk prices and restore stability to the dairy industry. “Dairy farmers are imperiled by wildly fluctuating milk prices that threaten the very existence of many farms. Just in the last two years, producers have experienced a 40 percent drop in milk prices. Many dairy farms are selling milk below the cost of production and are on the brink of selling their herds. This boom and bust cycle has taken a substantial toll on Vermont farmers,” Welch writes.    

The letter suggests the following steps for stabilization: