Current News

by Morgan True vtdigger.org The parent organization of Fletcher Allen Health Care plans to stop using a debt strategy that includes interest rate swaps, a mechanism that effectively allows an borrower to bet on the future direction of interest rates. One of these financial instruments cost Fletcher Allen Partners $3.1 million to cancel. The debt strategy came to light at a Green Mountain Care Board hearing on hospital budgets last month, when a union representing health care workers criticized the institution’s borrowing practices. Testifying before the board, surgical and pediatric nurse Travis Beebe-Woodard, of the Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Care Workers, said the interest rate swaps are inconsistent with Fletcher Allen’s nonprofit, patient-focused mission.

Governor Peter Shumlin announced today that the Vermont Food Fight Fund has received over $300,000 in donations to help the state defray to costs of a legal challenge by the big-food industry to its recently enacted law to require labeling of genetically-engineered food, also known as GMOs.

“I am pleased that this fund has exceeded the $300,000 mark, and continues to climb,” the governor said. “Vermont became the first state in the nation to implement this common-sense labeling requirement, ensuring people know what’s in their food and changing the way we think about our rights as consumers. Donations have come in from across the globe, from generous individual donors, organizations like Moveon.org and SumOfUs.org, and corporations including Chipotle, Stonyfield Farm and Ben & Jerry’s, to name just a few.”

Vermont's pick-your-own orchards offer a chance to win an iPod during the annual "Apples to iPods" promotion that kicks off this Sunday, September 14. In this technology-meets-agriculture contest, one specially marked wooden apple is hidden in an apple tree at 21 Vermont pick-your-own apple orchards. The lucky apple picker who finds a wooden apple wins an Apple iPod, iPod Shuffle or iPad. This good-natured promotion of Vermont’s working landscape is in partnership with Woodchuck® Hard Cider, Small Dog Electronics, Vermont Tree Fruit Growers Association and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture. The State of Vermont first launched this promotion in 2007 with hopes of growing participation at Vermont pick-your-own orchards. Since the launch, participation has been incredibly ‘fruitful’ across Vermont.

Powdr, one of the largest, privately owned and operated, lifestyle and mountain sports companies in North America and owner of the Killington and Pico resorts in Vermont, surprised the skiing world today by announcing the sale of its flagship Park City Mountain Resort (PCMR) base area, parking, lower ski terrain and lifts, as well as water and snowmaking for the entire mountain to Vail Resorts, Inc, effective immediately. This comes just two days after Powdr said it would pay a $17.5 million court-mandated bond to keep Park City open for this coming ski season. A failed lease renewal had left Park City potentially without access to the top of its own mountain. Through a management error, the Utah resort simply forgot to renew a 50-year lease in 2011, which gave the right to the top of the mountain to Vail, its rival in business and skier visits.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine NG Advantage CEO Tom Evslin said during a ribbon-cutting on a rainy October day in 2012 that his new company would be Vermont Gas’ largest customer by the end of 2013. NG has delivered on that promise. NG compresses natural gas at a facility at the Catamount Industrial Park in Milton and trucks it to industrial customers up to 200 miles away. A new facility in New Hampshire and another planned west of Albany will create a web of hubs to serve industrial customers in the Northeast.

NG was the first company in the nation to take advantage, literally, of the higher cost of fuel oil and propane and the abundance of natural gas in North America, said Mary Evslin, co-founder and VP of Marketing. The industrial customers that NG seeks out are typically plants, like paper mills and hospitals, which have both high energy uses and are off the natural gas pipeline.

SunCommon, Vermont’s largest residential solar company, has teamed with Excel Plumbing and Heating of Rutland to make the move toward solar heating easy and affordable for all Vermonters. Every year, Vermonters spend approximately $2.6 billion on energy, $800 million or more of which is spent on heating fuel. SunCommon said in a statement that Vermonters should be reminded of the looming financial and environmental impact of fossil fuels. By switching to solar heat via heat pumps, SunCommon said, Vermonters will tap into the least expensive, most efficient and safest way to heat and cool their home.

“SunCommon’s program has been an excellent opportunity for customers to install these products at an affordable price,” said Caroline LaCoille of Excel Plumbing and Heating. “When heat pumps are paired with SunCommon’s PV solar arrays net-zero heating capabilities are within reach, nearly eliminating the need for fossil fuel.”

A new solar tracker in Craftsbury funded by Good Neighbor Fund payments provided by GMP is helping the town go green and generate its own power. The ribbon cutting is September 11th at 5:30 pm at the Craftsbury Town Garage, and GMP will attend to honor the launch of this important community project. In March, Craftsbury residents voted overwhelmingly to use its Good Neighbor payment from the Kingdom Community Wind Project to pay for a Solar Tracker. The 10-kilowatt solar electric system was installed in August and is generating enough power to cover approximately one-third of Craftsbury’s municipal electric needs.

“This is such an exciting project for our town,” said Lisa Sammet who serves on the Craftsbury Energy Committee. “GMP’s Good Neighbor Payment helped residents make the decision to build this clean energy project that is already providing a great benefit to taxpayers.”

Farmers, a hard-cider producer and Middlebury College will begin to receive natural gas service sooner than they had expected. For the first time in the nation, a local natural gas distribution company and a “virtual pipeline” provider have partnered to provide natural gas to new customers - in advance of a pipeline extension. Vermont Gas and NG Advantage LLC have begun construction of the “gas island,” consisting of an Off-Loading Station and a small pipeline network that will connect Agri-Mark’s Middlebury plant, Vermont Hard Cider LLC, and Middlebury College.

The Spirit of Ethan Allen, the Lake Champlain tour boat operating out of Burlington, is experiencing a 75 percent reduction in electricity usage since enlisting the support of Burlington Electric Department’s Energy Services, according to the company. Starting in March 2013, several efficiency projects have been completed, with a bulk of the projects funded through BED’s On-Bill Financing Program.

Mike Shea, owner of the Spirit of Ethan Allen, said: “Following the work we did with BED, we realized a reduction in our electric bill of almost $18,000 a year. BED played a critical part in that process – education of the crew on the benefits of energy efficiency, helping identify opportunities for efficiency upgrades, providing technical assistance and project support, and On-Bill Financing were all needed to make these changes happen. The savings we experienced are beyond our wildest dreams.”

During its third quarter (May through July), the TD Charitable Foundation gave a total of $498,326 to non-profit organizations that provide affordable housing, financial literacy, education and environmental programs throughout New England. The grant recipients included two Vermont organizations.

· Aroostook Mental Health Services Inc. (Caribou, ME) – Aroostook Teen Leadership Camp

· Ruth's Reusable Resources (Portland, ME ) – Office Chop Shop Program

· WinterKids Education Foundation (Portland, ME) – WinterKids: Move, Learn, Explore!

· Mercy Connections, Inc. (Burlington, VT) – Women's Small Business Program Expansion Initiative

· Center Vermont adult Basic Education, Inc. (Barre, VT) – Functional Literacy Program

· Harbor Homes. (Nashua, NH ) – Permanent Housing for the homeless

· Girls At Work, Inc. (Goffstown, NH) – Afterschool Carpentry Workshop Program

Three local nonprofit housing developers were joined by Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin Wednesday morning to celebrate the opening of Harrington Village and the Wright House in Shelburne’s village center. Scores of community members, representatives of funder agencies and new residents of the housing joined in the celebration. The three nonprofits – Champlain Housing Trust, Housing Vermont and Cathedral Square –collaborated to build a mixed-income, mixed-generation neighborhood of 78 new homes including 42 family apartments and 36 senior apartments. A second partnership with between Champlain Housing Trust and Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity will result in four affordable homes for sale in two duplexes currently under construction. Residents of the apartments started moving in this July, with full occupancy expected within weeks.

Vermont Business Magazine It took 17 and a half hours, traveling at only 100 miles an hour, with required stops every few hundred miles to refuel, but Vermont Tech got its plane. VTC's Professional Pilot Technology Program, in partnership with the Vermont Flight Academy, has received a Twin Seabee amphibious aircraft that was recently donated by a southern California couple. The donation of this aircraft has made Vermont Tech the first college in the US to offer training in multi-engine seaplanes, in addition to single-engine seaplanes. The Twin Seabee is the sixth airplane donated to the program, making up about 30 percent of the fleet. The new plane, which is an amphibious aircraft that operates on both land and water, was unveiled at the Burlington International Airport on Wednesday.