Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Britton Lumber Company announced today that it has agreed in principle to acquire the assets of HG Wood Industries located in Bath, NH, to which it will move its sawmill operation. Its sawmill on the Connecticut River in Fairlee burned down last year. Britton said in an emailed statement to Vermont Business Magazine that it could not reasonably rebuild on the same location and determined that the acquisition of the existing operation made more business sense. HG Wood is a premier manufacturer of Eastern White Pine lumber and has been operating a sawmill, planer mill, and kilns on approximately 38 acres in Bath since 1972.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) Thursday applauded the Senate’s action to advance a key spending bill that provides critical funding for the Northern Border Regional Commission (NBRC), a program that has delivered more than $2.8 million in federal grants to Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom and $3.4 million in total to Vermont. With Leahy’s leadership earlier in the debate, the Senate blocked a move by a Republican senator to strike all funding for the program and others like it across the country. First established in the 2008 Farm Bill, the NBRC awards grants to development projects in economically distressed Northern Border counties in Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire and New York.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Peter Shumlin has ordered flags around Vermont to fly at half staff in honor of Steven L. Lapierre, a longtime firefighter and fire warden who passed away in the line of duty last week. The Vermont flag will be lowered Saturday at sunrise and will return to full staff Tuesday at sunrise. The governor will attend calling hours for Lapierre on Friday in St Albans. Governor Shumlin issued the following statement.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Housing & Conservation Board announced today that it has made funding commitments totaling $4,067,320 to 10 organizations to carry out projects in Burlington, South Burlington, Barre, Montpelier, Bennington, Arlington, Shaftsbury, Putney, Brattleboro, Athens, Rockingham, and Westminster. The VHCB funds will be used to construct or rehabilitate 172 affordable apartments, provide affordable homeownership to five households, conserve nearly 80 acres of land, and to restore an historic building.

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain College and Audubon International — two organizations at the forefront of advancing sustainability — have announced a partnership to promote environmental stewardship and make sustainability education programs available to all. Staff at Audubon Internationals’ vast network of environmentally-responsible facilities will receive discounts to enroll in GMC’s cutting edge, online graduate curriculum in one of four sustainability disciplines. Graduate students at the Poultney-based Green Mountain College can apply their place-based education by exploring and implementing Audubon International’s programs alongside professional staff.

Vermont Business Magazine Hydro-Québec's power exports avoided the emission of 7.4 million metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2015, the equivalent of 25 percent of the total emissions of New England thermal generating stations in 2014. These figures are from Hydro-Québec's newly released Sustainability Report 2015. With 99.8 percent of its output generated from water, Hydro-Québec's net GHG emissions are "very positive" for North America. Vermont signed a roughly 20-year, 20-megawatt power purchase agreement with Hydro-Québec in 2011. Hydro-Québec has used export contracts, with their higher rates, to help pay for the development and expansion of the Hydro-Québec system. Over 50 percent of its exports are sent to New England, or nearly 15,000 gigawatt hours of electricity.

Vermont Business Magazine Kids VT, Vermont’s free monthly parenting magazine, took home the General Excellence award, as well as six other awards, in the Parenting Media Association’s 2016 Design and Editorial Awards Competition. The national competition recognizes excellence in journalism, photography and design in regional parenting publications that are PMA members. The PMA announced the honors at its convention in Indianapolis, IN.

Vermont Business Magazine Cabot Creamery Cooperative has been recognized with a 2016 U.S. Dairy Sustainability Award for Outstanding Dairy Processing & Manufacturing Sustainability. The cooperative was selected for its Real Farm Power program which is the latest in a series of sustainability projects pioneered by the 1,200 dairy-farm families of Agri-Mark dairy cooperative, owner of Cabot Creamery Cooperative. The program takes a closed-loop approach, recycling cow manure, food scraps and food processing by-products to produce renewable energy on a Massachusetts dairy farm.

Vermont Business Magazine AllEarth Renewables, a Vermont-based solar tracker manufacturer, has announced a new program for Vermont homeowners, small businesses, and non-profits to go solar and pay less than their utility power costs. The new program will allow Vermonters to go solar for just $1,000, which can be applied to purchasing the solar system after 5 years. Customers will pay a monthly power purchase agreement for their system which will be set at less than the current benefit they will receive for their solar, yielding immediate electric bill savings.

Vermont Business Magazine The public may now sign up for Green Mountain Power’s free public tours of the 21-turbine Kingdom Community Wind project in Lowell offered during June, July and August. This is an opportunity for Vermonters and out-of-state visitors alike to experience a working wind farm, and learn how GMP is harnessing the power of wind. Tours of the GMP wind project in Lowell have become a popular Vermont activity during the summer. More than 1,200 people have visited the site every summer since tours began in 2013, coming from all over the state, as well from across the country and overseas. Visitors to the plant frequently enjoy local restaurants and shops, making for an enjoyable outing and helping the local economy.

Vermont Business Magazine The Stowe Brewers Festival is back for the second year – bigger, better, brewier – adding a third session and featuring more than 40 craft brewers from Vermont and across New York and New England, live music, more than a dozen food trucks, Vermont spirits and more. Held at Stowe’s Mayo Events Field, the 21-and-over event offers three sessions: Friday and Saturday, 5:30 – 9:30 p.m. and Saturday 11:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Tickets are on sale now: standard tickets are $45 and a limited number of VIP tickets are available for $75 each. Standard ticket purchasers receive tickets for 15 three-ounce samples per session. VIP ticket purchasers also receive expedited festival entry, exclusive VIP lounge tent access, 2016 festival swag and a coveted “Hop the Line” pass. New to the festival this year, all attendees will receive five bonus “Spirit Tasting” tickets to use at a selection of Vermont distillers.

Vermont Business Magazine The state’s largest health plan submitted its rate filing for Qualified Health Plans (QHPs) on Wednesday. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont (BCBSVT) said premium increases were primarily driven by two factors: Vermonters in QHPs sought more health care than previously anticipated and the costs of pharmacy and medical care continue to rise. The combination would have precipitated a 10 percent increase, but BCBSVT said favorable assumptions on its part brought the company’s request to the Green Mountain Care Board down to 8.2 percent for 2017 Exchange plans. MVP is requesting an 8.8 percent average annual rate increase.