Current News
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Nelson Farms, Inc, a dairy farm operation with farms in Derby and Derby Line, Vermont, has admitted to violations of Vermont’s water pollution law and agricultural practice regulations and has agreed to pay forty-five thousand dollars ($45,000.00) in civil penalties for the violations. “My Office is committed to bringing enforcement actions when necessary to remedy violations of Vermont’s agricultural water quality laws,” said Attorney General William H. Sorrell. “We know that most Vermont farmers want to run sustainable farms that operate within the law and live up to the expectations of Vermonters, but when farms fail to do so, we are ready to step in,” Attorney General Sorrell added.
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The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets has created a new matching grant program to help agriculture and forest product businesses attend domestic trade shows and expand their presence in other U.S. states. In total, $25,000 in matching funds are available. Trade shows enable companies to connect with buyers and brokers, potentially opening new markets for sales.
Applications for the grants can be found online by clicking HERE.
The deadline for applications is Friday, February 6th, 2015.
Miro Weinberger to seek nomination at Burlington Democratic Caucus and kick-off re-election campaign
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Mayor Miro Weinberger will seek the Democratic nomination for Mayor at the Burlington Democratic Mayoral, District & Ward Nominating Caucus and kick off the Miro for Mayor re-election campaign. The Miro for Mayor campaign released this video earlier in the week to encourage Burlingtonians to attend Sunday's caucus – all are invited to join the Mayor and City Council candidates for this great and important event. Free childcare will be provided at the school, and a community dinner will be served.
WHEN: Sunday, January 11 at 4:00 pm
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Green Mountain College has entered into a unique net-metering agreement with a Benson landowner who has completed installation of a 150 kW solar electric project on his Stage Road property. The project, which began to generate power Wednesday, is brokered by Tunbridge Solar LLC. What makes this project different is that property owner, Aaron Kelly, has offered to give up the sale of renewable energy certificates (RECs) and donate them to the college. GMC will save 5% on the value of the solar energy produced. The project will offset approximately 8% of the college’s electricity consumption on campus.
“This allows the College to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions while saving approximately $1300 per year in electricity costs,” said Aaron Witham, GMC’s sustainability director.
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Keurig Green Mountain, Inc. (Keurig) (NASDAQ: GMCR), a leader in specialty coffee and innovative brewing technology, and Dr Pepper Snapple Group (NYSE:DPS) announced Wednesday that the companies will develop a selection of Dr Pepper Snapple Group’s iconic brands for the forthcoming Keurig Cold at-home beverage system.
“With Keurig Cold, we’ve leveraged Keurig innovation to make it possible for consumers to create great-tasting cold beverages at home with the one-touch simplicity of Keurig. We’re very excited to offer a range of Dr Pepper Snapple’s iconic brands in the system at launch,” said Lori Tauber Marcus, Keurig’s Chief Product Officer, Keurig Cold Systems.
Burlington, VT gets credit-positive notice from Moody's for dismissal of municipal broadband lawsuit
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On January 2, a federal district court dismissed a three-year-old lawsuit against Burlington (Baa3 stable) concerning the city-owned broadband provider Burlington Telecom (BT). According to Moody's Weekly Credit Outlook issued today, the dismissal is credit positive for the city because it effectively ratified a settlement reached between the city and the complainant Citibank, NA (A2 stable, B-/Caa2 stable1) last February, which is favorable to the city.
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Governor Peter Shumlin, who was sworn in for a third term as Governor of VermontThursday afternoon, used his inaugural address to a joint assembly of the Vermont Legislature to outline his agenda for progress, focusing on jobs, affordability, and quality of life for Vermonters. The governor’s multifaceted agenda, which will be detailed in two speeches – today’s Inaugural and next week’s Budget Speech - will focus on expanding our economy, containing health care costs, reducing education spending while ensuring quality education for Vermont’s kids, expanding Vermont’s clean energy sector, protecting our lakes and waterways, building on the progress made battling opiate addiction, protecting the state’s most vulnerable children, and developing a balanced budget that puts the state on a more sustainable long-term fiscal footing.
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by Kaura Krantz vtdigger.org Governor Peter Shumlin was re-elected to a third term Thursday morning in a secret ballot by a joint assembly of the Vermont Legislature. Shumlin beat Republican Scott Milne in a 110-69 vote. In a rare but not an unprecedented procedure, the Legislature chose a governor because no candidate garnered more than 50 percent of the vote in the November 4 general election. Milne said shortly before the vote that "lightning could strike." But it did not.
Three sets of "tellers" count and verify the votes (green ballots) in the Hosue Chamber. Photos by Vermont Business Magazine.
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A new study from the University of Vermont shows that removing native forest and starting intensive agriculture can accelerate erosion so dramatically that in a few decades as much soil is lost as would naturally occur over thousands of years. Had you stood on the banks of the Roanoke, Savannah, or Chattahoochee Rivers 100 years ago, you’d have seen a lot more clay soil washing down to the sea than before European settlers began clearing trees and farming there in the 1700s. Around the world, it is well known that deforestation and agriculture increases erosion above its natural rate.
But accurately measuring the natural rate of erosion for a landscape — and, therefore, how much human land use has accelerated this rate — has been a devilishly hard task for geologists. And that makes environmental decision-making — such as setting allowable amounts of sediment in fish habitat and land use regulation — also difficult.
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by John Herrick vtdigger.org Among lawmakers’ top environmental priorities this session will be reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving Lake Champlain’s water quality. Meanwhile, advocacy groups will press lawmakers to pass first-in-nation policies designed to protect the climate. Vermont lawmakers plan to craft a new renewable energy program requiring utilities to own power generated from wind, solar and other renewable resources.
The policy aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere when fossil fuels are burned to produce electricity. Greenhouse gas emissions are one of the causes of climate change.
The Shumlin administration is proposing a new policy that would also affect the heating and transportation sectors, which together account for most of the state’s carbon emissions.
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Concept2, the company famous for its rowing machines and based in Morrisville, has been named a Vermont Green Business by the State of Vermont for environmental stewardship and sustainability efforts. The Vermont Green Business Program (www.vbep.org) provides assistance to businesses desiring to “green up” their operations and recognizes businesses of all sizes for meeting a set of environmental standards.
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Sterling College, already known for growing 20 percent of its own food on campus, has been confirmed as the top college in the US that eats food that is local, sustainable, humane, and fair-trade. This ranking comes from the Real Food Challenge, which surveyed over 160 colleges and universities throughout the US.
After reviewing all of the food used in the Sterling College kitchen from June 2013 to June 2014, the college found that 76 percent of its food met the real food qualification for production methods. In comparison, the next-highest ranked institution eats only 34 percent real food.