Current News

Tours are well under way at Green Mountain Power’s Kingdom Community Wind site in Lowell. So far this summer GMP has brought nearly 400 people to the top of Lowell Mountain to get an up-close view of the 21 turbine project. During the free tour, visitors have the opportunity to learn about the project, touch a blade, and experience how the turbines operate and harness the power of wind.

PHOTO: 2013 tour, vtdigger.org photo.

“Green Mountain Power is thrilled to once again offer these free tours to the public,” said GMP Spokeswoman Dorothy Schnure. “Connecting Vermonters directly to how energy is produced is so important. The tours are a wonderful way to engage with people and show them first hand this exciting wind project.”

John Wiley & Sons, Inc, a global book publisher and education company whose roster of authors includes more than 450 Nobel laureates, has announced that it will take over the publishing and book sales of Winthrop H. Smith Jr.’s book Catching Lightning in a Bottle: How Merrill Lynch Revolutionized the Financial World. Smith originally released the book in December of 2013, just before the 100th anniversary of Merrill Lynch. The January 2014 anniversary of the company was a bittersweet affair: in 2013 , Bank of America took over Merrill Lynch, a company that was at one point the world’s largest brokerage firm, but whose subsequent fall from greatness Smith attributes to the actions of former CEO Stanley O’Neill.

After a months-long investigation into allegations of poor financial practices and misappropriation of funds, the Attorney General’s Office has reached a settlement agreement with a central Vermont nonprofit organization. The Office had received complaints that Food Works’ Two Rivers Center for Sustainability, located in Montpelier, had used funds donated for specific programs for general expenses and other purposes, contrary to the intent of the funder, and had overstated its fundraising success when seeking further donations.

Composting in Vermont received a boost in the last legislative session with passage of four sales tax exemptions that went into effect July 1, 2014. Provisions include exempting bulk purchases of compost, planting mixes, and manure from the Sales and Use Tax. Bulking agents to make compost, such as wood chips, are now also exempt from sales tax. Passed unanimously in the House as a stand-alone bill, these provisions were incorporated into the Senate’s Miscellaneous Tax bill.

An updated flood map will become effective in the Town of Richmond on August 4, 2014. Flood Insurance Rate Maps are produced by FEMA to identify flood hazard risks for the National Flood Insurance Program. The current and future flood hazard maps are viewable at the Richmond Town Center Building. The current map is also online at the FEMA map service center www.msc.fema.gov . To view the new maps (upcoming Preliminary Digital Flood Insurance Rate Map (DFIRM)) please visit the Vermont Flood Ready Atlas at tinyurl.com/floodreadyatlas

Today, the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) announced the approval of the Southern Lake Champlain Tactical Basin water quality management plan. This plan covers basins 2 and 4 – the Poultney and Mettowee Rivers, and the Lower Champlain Direct tributaries. The Southern Lake Champlain Tactical Basin Plan reflects years of work in the Southern Lake Champlain Watershed (Basin) to evaluate the health of the surface waters.

The Southern Lake Champlain Tactical Basin Plan provides an overview of the health of the basin and a description of the priority future and ongoing steps to restore and protect the quality of its surface waters. What makes this plan “tactical” is the reliance on comprehensive water quality monitoring and assessment information to develop high priority implementation actions and tasks that provide opportunities for all stakeholders in the Southern Lake Champlain Basin to pursue technical and financial support for water quality improvement.

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision today in favor of the State of Vermont, rejecting all elements of Vermont Right to Life Committee’s (VRLC) attack on the State’s campaign finance laws. The appellate court affirmed the federal district court’s decision issued by Judge William Sessions in June 2012. Attorney General William Sorrell commended the court’s decision, saying, “The Second Circuit’s ruling confirms the constitutional validity of Vermont’s campaign finance laws. It upholds an important part of Vermont’s regulatory framework addressing money in elections.”

The US Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday held a field hearing in Burlington on net neutrality titled, “Preserving an Open Internet: Rules to Promote Competition and Protect Main Street Consumers.” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), author of the bicameral Online Competition and Consumer Choice Act that would support consumers by requiring the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to ban paid prioritization deals, invited a panel of witnesses representing a variety of viewpoints to testify on the issue of net neutrality. Witnesses provided real-life accounts of how Internet rules impact everyday consumers and small businesses.

VTel Wireless at an event in Hardwick Tuesday launched the commercial version of its high-speed wireless broadband targeted for 24 unserved and underserved rural Vermont towns. It will reach more than 20,000 homes and businesses with broadband signal. The event also officially launched VTel's GigE Active Fiber service to 14 towns and villages in southern Vermont, with 4,000 of VTel's 16,000 homes connected July 1.

VTel Wireless, in conjunction with its partners at Sprint and Ericsson, will showcase several exciting technologies over the course of the day:

Green Mountain Power is responding quickly to outages caused by thunderstorms and strong winds across Vermont. The company encourages the public to stay safe and to report outages and any down lines they encounter. “This summer storm could cause significant outages by bringing down tree limbs onto powerlines,” said Dorothy Schnure, Green Mountain Power spokesperson. “We are deploying crews to respond to outages, and even more are ready to go to keep the public safe and make sure the lights get back on as soon as possible.” In addition to responding to outages, GMP is positioning workers in areas expected to be hit hardest. GMP also has contract line workers and tree trimmers available if needed to assist GMP crews in restoring power quickly.

“For the latest information, we will post updates through Facebook, Twitter and media announcements,” said Schnure.

In a historic step forward in the State’s treatment of acute mental illness, Governor Peter Shumlin cut the ribbon Tuesday on the new 25 bed state-of-the-art Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital (VPCH) in Berlin. The opening of the VPCH is the capstone of a decentralized 45-bed continuum of inpatient services, with partner hospitals Rutland Regional Medical Center and Brattleboro Retreat, for all Vermonters with acute mental health treatment needs. Tropical Storm Irene severely damaged the Waterbury state office complex, including the old hospital, in 2011.

“This facility has been a long time coming. Finally we can truly say Vermont is protecting and caring for some of our most vulnerable neighbors in an efficient, high-quality building, and appropriately treating mental illness like any other disease,” Shumlin said. The Governor also noted that the new hospital was funded with significant federal financial support, saving Vermont money.

by John Herrick vtdigger.org The Washington Electric Co-op is proposing changes to a program that allows homeowners who generate renewable energy to sell excess power back to the electrical grid. The East Montpelier-based electric utility is asking state regulators for permission to tweak its net metering program. Patty Richards, the co-op’s general manager, says Washington Electric wants to ensure the program is “fair to all of our membership.” WEC is proposing adding a fixed customer charge and a new grid service fee based on the amount of power the net metering member generates. The co-op’s proposed charges would cover fixed costs that some net metering customers pass on to other customers, Richards said.