Current News

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Average gasoline prices in Vermont are $3.07 per gallon, unchanged from last week, and are down 2 cents/g from last month and down 55 cents/g from last year. The lowest price in the state this week was $2.73/g while the highest was $3.29/g, a difference of 56.0 cents per gallon. Prices in the southern part of the state continue to be lowest, with Windham ($2.97/g) and Rutland ($2.97/g) counties lowest and Essex ($3.24/g), Grand Isle ($3.19/g), Lamoille ($3.15/g) and Franklin ($3.15/g) highest, according to AAA. The national average price of gasoline has risen cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.19/g today. The national average is up 2 cents per gallon from a month ago and stands 41 cents per gallon lower than a year ago.

Vermont Business Magazine This year marks a major milestone for Vermont’s oldest forestry nonprofit. The Vermont Woodlands Association (VWA) is celebrating its 110th anniversary and invites the public to join a day-long Forest Festival on Saturday, June 28, 2025, at Clover Hill Tree Farm in South Strafford. The event runs from 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM and features a variety of guided woods walks led by natural resource and forestry experts. Themes include working forest management, old growth forest characteristics, wildlife habitat, climate change, and more. A family-friendly woods walk is also planned.

Vermont Business Magazine Community Bank is pleased to welcome Matthew Plasse as regional president of the bank’s New England market. Plasse will lead business development and community engagement activities while  fostering strong alignment across the bank’s various lines of business in the region. He will report to President of Commercial Banking Matt Durkee, who he succeeds in this leadership position. Plasse has more than 20 years of experience in the banking industry, serving customers in New England. Prior to Community Bank, he held various leadership and middle-market banking roles at M&T Bank and its acquired institutions, including People’s United Bank N.A. Most recently, he served as senior vice president, group manager for M&T Bank’s commercial banking division in Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine The Senate Committee on Health and Welfare voted today to advance legislation already passed by the House (H.238) that would outlaw the use of toxic perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in firefighting gear, dental floss, cleaning products, and fluorine-treated containers—a critical step in reducing Vermonters’ exposure to these harmful substances. The Health and Welfare committee expanded the bill as passed by the House by adding a provision that prohibits PFAS in most firefighting gear beginning in 2029.

Vermont Business Magazine On Wednesday, Governor Scott issued an executive order that effectively delays regulations that were reducing the availability of snowplows, dump trucks, and other heavy-duty vehicles that towns rely on. The regulations, the Advanced Clean Cars II, Advanced Clean Trucks, and Heavy-Duty Engine and Vehicle Omnibus rules, required manufacturers to sell an increasing number of zero emission vehicles starting in model year 2026. “Our state’s road foremen and selectboard members are eager to transition to clean fuels and cleaner fleets, but that eagerness and the state’s mandates didn’t translate to the trucks being available on the market or the charging infrastructure being installed in town garages.” 

Vermont Business Magazine With spring cleaning underway in some parts of the state, the Departments of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and Forests, Parks and Recreation (FPR) want to remind Vermonters to follow a few guidelines for backyard open burning to protect environmental and public health, and public safety. “Burning debris is the leading cause of wildland fires in Vermont, underscoring the critical importance of proactive measures,” said FPR Commissioner Danielle Fitzko. “In 2024, Vermont had 96 wildland fires, all were caused by human activity.” 

by Sam Hartnett, Community News Service A Senate bill designed to curb chloride contamination from road salt has stalled, but an identical bill in the House is making advances. H.86, the House version of the proposed program, passed the chamber’s Committee on Ways and Means 7–4 last Friday with votes split along party lines. The bill’s Senate counterpart, S.29, remains in a committee. Both bills aim to reduce stress on aquatic ecosystems from salt exposure as well as to save contractors and municipalities money on salt expenses. The program it creates, housed in the state Agency of Natural Resources, would provide education, training and certification for road salt crews across the state — with a focus on reducing salt use. Neither version of the bill passed before the key crossover date, meaning Vermonters won’t see a road salt reduction program this winter. Regardless, Democratic and Progressive lawmakers are looking to get the bill through the lower chamber this spring.

Vermont Business Magazine There was a big turnout and strong member engagement Saturday at Vermont Electric Co-op's Annual Meeting held at Jay Peak Resort. VEC's electricity procurement strategy was a key topic at the meeting. The main presentation, titled “Navigating a Clean Power Supply,” examined how and why VEC chooses certain types of power—like wind, solar, natural gas, biomass, and others—from the regional wholesale electricity market keeping both climate-related goals and affordability top-of-mind. VEC also announced at the meeting that Tom Bailey, William Gilbert, Bonnie Pratt, and Jeff Wilson were all elected to the co-op’s Board of Directors, representing various Board districts. Members also saw demonstrations of how VEC uses drones for system maintenance and power restoration, and spoke with VEC staff employees about the co-op’s use of electric fleet pickup trucks.

Vermont Business Magazine ISO New England, operator of the region’s bulk power system and wholesale electricity marketplace, has announced the election of its 2025 Board of Directors slate. Current board chair Cheryl LaFleur and members Catherine Flax and Melvin G. Williams, Jr. were reelected to three-year terms that begin this October.

Vermont Business Magazine The Association of Vermont Conservation Commissions (AVCC) is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2025 Tiny Grant awards to support local conservation in Vermont. This year, we are proud to award over $4,000 to eight volunteer conservation commissions (CCs) across four counties in Vermont. Through its Tiny Grants program, the AVCC annually awards up to $700 in seed money and/or matching funds for specific projects in the broad categories of land conservation, education and outreach, stewardship and management, and planning.  We also received a record-breaking number of applications this year – 31 applications totaling nearly $20,000 in requested funding. Our 2025 Tiny Grants were made possible with generous support from The Nature Conservancy in Vermont, Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission and Vermont Natural Resources Council.

Vermont Business Magazine During the spring fish spawning season, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) wants to remind Vermonters that permitted lake encroachment construction projects and non-chemical aquatic plant control projects on public lakes and ponds are typically not allowed from March 15 to July 1. Examples of projects that are typically not allowed during this period include adding rock or other material to the water for shoreline stabilization (such as riprap or seawalls), boathouse reconstruction, dredging, bottom barriers, diver assisted suction harvesting, or other projects that disturb the lakebed.

Vermont Business Magazine The Professional Logging Contractors (PLC) of the Northeast held its 30th Anniversary Annual Meeting May 8-9, raising a record $165,386 for Log A Load For Kids and presenting awards to businesses and individuals from across Maine and Vermont for their contributions to the logging industry. The meeting was held at the Samoset Resort in Rockport, ME., with more than 250 people attending the main events on Friday. This was the second annual meeting of the PLC since its expansion in 2023 from a Maine organization to a regional one serving loggers and forest truckers across the Northeast, and a milestone anniversary for the organization. The annual meeting is the PLC’s largest event and highlighted by the Log A Load for Kids Auction raising money for three Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) Hospitals in Maine and Vermont. Families served by each of the CMN hospitals were in attendance for the event.