Current News

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine A commercial waterfall for more than two centuries and a hydro facility in its current state since 1993, the City of Burlington just paid $16 million for the three turbine, 7.4 megawatt Winooski One Hydroelectric Facility. The Winooski plant can generate 8 percent of the city's power needs, which equates to 5,200 homes. Mayor Miro Weinberger and Burlington Electric Department (BED) officials today announced the completion of the purchase of the Winooski plant, the 7.4 megawatt plant located on the Winooski River on the border with Burlington.

A recently launched partnership between the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing (VDTM), the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, and two Vermont businesses, Route 802 and Inntopia, is working to achieve a broad public benefit: increased tourism business. Unprecedented, the partnership offers a seamless shopping experience to its customers, regardless of where or what they are reserving. Lift tickets, transportation, season passes, activities, and a variety of other resort and lodging products can be handled through web, mobile and phone reservation systems.

Route 802 is launching Inntopia’s cloud-based platform to power e-commerce and contact center reservations in the state’s primary tourism website, VermontVacation.com. Route 802 will utilize Inntopia’s full suite of travel reservation products and their recently released Responsive Commerce design to deliver the same functionality in Vermont’s Official Mobile App, ThisisVT.

by John Herrick vtdigger.org Northeast propane dealers are urging customers to fill their tanks this summer to help prevent shortages linked to last winter’s record high prices. Residential propane prices have dropped from the more than $4 per gallon peak last winter, but the infrastructure challenges in the region that drove those shortages remain, industry representatives say. Matt Cota, executive director of the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association, said last year’s price spikes are not likely to happen again because dealers and customers are being proactive.

He said Northeast propane dealers are better stocked with propane supplies than they were last year. Dealers are also urging customers to arrange for pricing and deliveries ahead of the heating season and make sure their homes are as energy-efficient as possible.

Northern Power Systems (www.northernpower.com) (TSX: NPS), based in Barre, has launched the next generation of their industry leading permanent magnet/direct drive distributed wind turbines. The 100 kilowatt (kW) NPS 100C and the 60 kW NPS 60C are commercially available for delivery to markets around the world starting in the fourth quarter of 2014.

The Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA) has approved a total of $5 million in loans for economic development projects totaling over $11 million throughout Vermont. These projects include a $469,262 loan to Jonergin Realty and Swan Valley Cheese in Swanton; Zero Gravity, a Burlington craft brewer, will get $440,319; Koffee Kup Bakery, Inc, Burlington, was approved for a $330,000 equipment loan; and a $165,000 loan was approved for the Rutland Veterinary Clinic and Surgical Center.

“VEDA is pleased to provide loans and other forms of financing to help businesses throughout Vermont grow and thrive,” said Jo Bradley, VEDA’s Chief Executive Officer. “In this round of approvals, a number of Vermont food and beverage producers will undertake expansion projects to meet increasing demand for their products, creating jobs in the process.”

Projects approved by the Authority for nearly $1.5 million in direct commercial financing include:

AllEarth Renewables has initiated construction on nearly 5 megawatts of projects utilizing its dual-axis solar tracker systems to provide power to 12 state government facilities in Vermont. The facilities include each of the state’s correctional facilities and several state office buildings, including the office of Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin. The ground-mounted solar tracker systems will provide emissions-free, net metered solar electricity for each facility at below market rates through long-term energy contracts, and represents the state’s largest public solar initiative to date.

Human beings have had such a powerful impact on planetary environmental systems since the Industrial Revolution that scientists say Earth has entered a new geologic epoch: the Anthropocene, the age of humans. The University of Vermont and two Canadian institutions, McGill University and York University, have received a six-year, $2.5 million grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to develop a graduate curriculum designed to produce leaders who can help reverse recent trends and lighten humanity’s footprint on the planet’s fragile ecosystems. The three institutions matched the grant with a total of $2.5 million raised internally at each school and through private philanthropy.

More than 120 concerned residents attended a public forum to discuss the risks of crude oil train traffic through the Adirondack Park and Champlain Valley last Thursday night, with many saying they would urge state officials to fully assess the risks to communities and the environment, and urge federal regulators to ban the older, leak-prone rail tanker cars involved in recent spills, fires and explosions. Currently, more than three million gallons per day of Bakken crude oil is transported through the region on rail lines that had rarely carried crude oil or hazardous materials before.

According to a statement released Thursday by Captain Ray Keefe, Vermont State Police Troop D Commander, former FBI director Louis Freeh likely fell asleep in a car crash August 25 in Barnard. According to the statement, the investigation into the motor vehicle crash involving Freeh, age 64 of Wilmington (DE), is complete. "Freeh was interviewed and does not remember how the crash occurred. A lack of memory is common in crashes of this nature," Keefe's statement says. While troopers may never be able to determine exactly what happened, Freeh’s lack of recollection, the circumstances of the crash, and the lack of an identified mechanical problem points to Freeh falling asleep and drifting off the east side of the roadway, according to the State Police.

Troopers have up to 30 days to complete and submit their report to the Vermont Division of Motor Vehicles, from the date of the crash. A copy of the report may be obtained from the DMV, once it is complete.

Governor Peter Shumlin announced today the resignation of Dave Yacovone, Commissioner for the Department for Children and Families (DCF). Yacovone, who will assume a leadership position with a community based non-profit organization in the near future, will be succeeded by Ken Schatz, General Counsel for the Agency of Human Services. Schatz has an extensive background in handling issues linked to DCF. This is the second shoe to drop at the agency this summer. The governor fired Doug Racine, Yacovone's boss at the embattled Agency of Human Services, in August.

Dave Yacovone listens in as Governor Shumlin takes a question in 2013. vtdigger.org file photo

The Vermont Public Service Board will make its records free and more accessible starting next year. Vermont State Auditor Doug Hoffer today released the findings of an investigation into the PSB's method of recording its proceedings and making those records available to the public. At issue is the Board’s long-standing practice of requiring interested parties to buy copies of hearing transcripts from a third-party vendor, which effectively holds the property rights to these public records. While the Board allows members of the public to inspect transcripts on site, this can pose a challenge to Vermonters who live far from Montpelier and who want ongoing access to this information.

The Paramount Theatre announced today that Rutland’s Earth Waste & Metal will be joining The Rutland Herald and GE Aviation at the Flagship $25,000 Gold Sponsor level for the 2014/2015 Paramount Season. Kevin Elnicki, President and CEO of Earth Waste & Metal, established the business in 1989. Since its inception, Earth Waste & Metal has served Vermont and upstate New York in the recycling of metals, ferrous and non-ferrous. EWM is a full spectrum metal recycler, providing container service, mobile machinery and expert knowledge to best serve the customer’s needs. Operations in recent years have expanded to include the handling of a full range of recycling materials, from cardboard to plastics. And, EWM currently operates 10 transfer stations in the region. Solid service, fair and honest pricing, and affordable access to responsible recycling are key to Earth Waste & Metal’s business model.