Current News

by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org An ad hoc group will release education finance proposals next week. The 10-member working group was called together by the House Speaker’s office and represents a wide political spectrum and geographic regions of the state. The group has met in private every two weeks since the beginning of September to develop ideas for overhauling the state’s complex education finance system.

Three basic concepts have emerged from the meetings: a “renovation” plan, which would reduce school spending; a variable income tax proposal, based on H680, which would shift the burden for education finance away from the property tax; and a “regional block grant model,” which would result in a major overhaul of the education finance system. The last two plans would replace the Act 60 finance system.

Vermont Business Magazine The Department of Public Service, in conjunction with the Agency of Commerce and Community Development and the Department of Information and Innovation, has released the final 2014 Telecommunications Plan. The Plan addresses the major ongoing developments in the telecommunications industry, including broadband infrastructure development, regulatory policy (as the non-regulated aspects keep growing), greater competition and recommendations for future action.

“This Plan is the product of a rigorous public input process. The Department carefully considered the proposals made by members of the public and the telecommunications industry in response to the Department’s final draft,” said Public Service Commissioner Christopher Recchia.

Governor Peter Shumlin made two key staff announcements today, appointing new secretaries to the agencies of Administration and Human Services. Justin Johnson, who currently serves as Deputy Secretary at the Agency of Natural Resources, will take over as Secretary of Administration. He will replace Jeb Spaulding who has served in that position since Shumlin first took office in 2011 and will become the next Chancellor of the Vermont State Colleges in January. Johnson’s appointment will take effect at the beginning of the year, though he is expected to begin the transition immediately.

Vermont Gas Systems and NG Advantage LLC have officially turned on Vermont’s first “gas island” on Exchange Street in Middlebury. This island consists of an Off-Loading Station and a small pipeline network that will connect the station to Agri-Mark’s Middlebury plant, Middlebury College, and several other large customers. Until the Addison Rutland Natural Gas Project pipeline extension reaches Middlebury, natural gas will be delivered to the local network by NG Advantage LLC using its high-tech carbon fiber trailers. Once the Vermont Gas Systems pipeline reaches Middlebury, NG Advantage will move its Off-Loading Station and trucks to other customer sites.

Vermont Business Magazine A new report by the Vermont EPSCoR Adaptation to Climate Change in the Lake Champlain Basin (RACC) project found that Vermonters rank water quality as a top public policy priority and are willing to pay to improve the health of Vermont’s waterways. The report is based on surveys conducted in 2013 and 2014. More than 95 percent of respondents to the 2013 survey ranked water quality as either “moderately important” or “very important,” a higher percentage than for all other public issues in the survey, including preserving the working landscape and economic development.

Vermont Business Magazine Keurig Green Mountain, Inc, (NASDAQ: GMCR), the coffee and beverage company based in Waterbury, Vermont, today announced it has acquired the Laughing Man Coffee and Tea brand from Laughing Man Worldwide, LLC, based in New York City and co-founded by actor Hugh Jackman. Keurig will introduce Laughing Man's curated selection of gourmet coffees and teas to Keurig brand packs for use in Keurig brewers beginning in spring 2015. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

California is home to the largest advanced energy industry in the country, according to the first-ever industry-wide survey released today by the Advanced Energy Economy Institute. It is also second in the country, tied with Massachusetts, for percentage of the state's overall workforce employed in advanced energy, at 2.4 percent; only Vermont, at 4.3 percent, has a higher concentration of workers in this broad economic sector. At 431,800 jobs today, advanced energy is bigger by employment in California than the motion picture, television, and radio industries; mining and quarrying; semiconductors; and aerospace. Advanced energy jobs grew 5 percent in the past year – more than double the overall state job growth rate – and is on track to grow 17 percent in the coming year, to more than 500,000 workers, based on employer hiring plans.

The Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation announced today that the public comment period on the proposed ‘Draft Voluntary Harvesting Guidelines for Forest Landowners in Vermont’ is now open. The comment period will be open for three weeks, and will close on December 22, 2014 at 4:30 pm. In 2013 the Vermont Legislature passed Act 24, requiring the Commissioner of the Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation to “develop voluntary harvesting guidelines that may be used by private landowners to help ensure long-term forest health and sustainability.”

by Mary Powell, President and CEO of Green Mountain Power Energy can change lives and transform communities. Those guiding beliefs drive Green Mountain Power employees every day, as we look to find new innovations to help customers save money by using more renewable resources and less energy. It may strike some as odd that a utility wants to help people use less. At GMP, we are obsessed with providing our customers with the lowest-cost, cleanest and smartest solutions for energy use. This is what our customers tell us they want, whether it’s distributed energy resources, community projects, solar, wind, or a new way to track and control energy use remotely with mobile technology. GMP wants to accelerate the pace of change, and find new ways to benefit customers.

Valener Inc (TSX: VNR), the public investment vehicle in Gaz Métro Limited Partnership (Gaz Métro), has announced its fiscal year 2014 financial results. For FY 2014, recurring net income attributable to common shareholders totalled $36.7 million ($0.97 per common share) versus $34.0 million ($0.90 per common share) in fiscal 2013. This increase of $2.7 million ($0.07 per common share) came from an increase in Gaz Métro's recurring net income owing to higher natural gas and electricity deliveries in Quebec and Vermont, synergies from the operational integration of Green Mountain Power (GMP) and Central Vermont Public Service (CVPS), as well as a favourable impact of the depreciation of the Canadian dollar versus the US dollar on the results of its business activities in the United States.

Vermont Business Magazine Boralex Inc, Gaz Métro Limited Partnership, and Valener Inc have announced the commercial commissioning of an additional 68 MW at the Seigneurie de Beaupré Wind Farms, completing Phase II of the wind farm which now totals 340 MW in operation. The wind farm is located just northeast of Quebec City. Gaz Metro is the owner of Green Mountain Power and Vermont Gas Systems.

"The success of this second phase of the Seigneurie de Beaupré Wind Farms is one more example of the outstanding work of our teams, who completed the project on budget and on schedule," noted Gaz Métro President and CEO Sophie Brochu and Boralex President and CEO Patrick Lemaire.

Business leaders, elected officials, SunCommon staff, and friends gathered Tuesday to celebrate SunCommon’s 1000th residential solar installation and the positive impact the company has made to Vermont’s economy. SunCommon’s 1000^th customers, Micki and Stephen Woodruff, hosted the event at their Barre Town home while Peck Electric installers mounted the final panel of the family’s 18-panel array.

“SunCommon launched two years ago with a mission to tear down the barriers to solar, making it easy and affordable for all Vermonters,” said James Moore, co-founder of SunCommon, “Vermont homeowners are building our clean energy future on their roofs, all the while keeping their energy dollars in the local economy. This is a rooftop revolution, and we are proud to be a part of it.”