Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Keurig Green Mountain, Inc, the single-cup beverage company based in Waterbury, Vermont, announced today that it will open a manufacturing facility in Douglas County, Georgia. The new Douglas County manufacturing center is the first Keurig facility dedicated to the production of pods for the company’s new Keurig Cold platform. The Keurig Cold in-home beverage system will give consumers a convenient way to quickly produce their favorite cold beverage brands with the same one-touch system typical of the Keurig brand. Keurig is in the development process and plans to introduce the cold system to consumers in fiscal year 2015 (which begins this fall). A Keurig spokesperson said in an email statement that, "We will be continuing to grow our manufacturing capacity in Vermont.

The Vermont Community Foundation announced that the Innovations and Collaborations grant program awarded $216,000 to 15 nonprofit organizations in Vermont in June. One of a number of competitive grant programs at the Community Foundation, Innovations and Collaborations supports projects that help nonprofits collaborate across sectors and regions to develop common solutions to community needs. Community Foundation fundholders partnered with the Foundation in making the grants, which ranged from $10,000 to $20,000 for new and continued projects.

Vermont Business Magazine Fletcher Allen Partners and The University of Vermont announced today that Fletcher Allen Partners will be changing its name to The University of Vermont Health Network. As part of the brand strategy approved by the Fletcher Allen Partners and University of Vermont boards, and Fletcher Allen Health Care’s board, Fletcher Allen Health Care will be renamed The University of Vermont Medical Center. CVPH Medical Center will adopt the name “Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital” and will use that name together with “The University of Vermont Health Network” in all communications to express its participation in the Network. Central Vermont Medical Center and Elizabethtown Community Hospital will use their names with “The University of Vermont Health Network” in the same manner to express their affiliation in all communications. The change is planned to take effect this fall.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston announced Ernest “Ernie” Pomerleau, President and CEO of Burlington’s Pomerleau Real Estate, as the 2014 Chair of the Boston Fed’s New England Advisory Council (NEAC). The NEAC is convened by Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren and includes senior leaders of small- to mid-size businesses throughout New England. Members advise the Bank about underlying trends in the economy as viewed through the prisms of their own companies and respective industries.

“I am grateful to Ernie for his commitment to public service,” said President Rosengren. “The conversations we have at the NEAC meetings are among the many ways the Boston Fed stays connected to the business community, and helps inform the perspectives that I share when I attend the Federal Open Market Committee meetings in Washington.”

Twenty organic farm and consumer groups have filed a petition with US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to protect the authority and permanence of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB). The petitioners object to recent changes to the NOSB charter, renewed onMay 8, 2014, that undermine the mandatory and continuing duties of the Board as established by Congress under the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) of 1990. The NOSB, intended to safeguard the integrity of the organic food label, was created by Congress with independent authorities that operate outside the discretion of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). Petitioners maintain that in renewing the charter under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), USDA mistakenly re-categorized the NOSB as a time-limited Advisory Board subject to USDA's discretion and a narrowing of responsibilities.

A new program is available to help Vermont homeowners with the cost of repairing or replacing failed residential wastewater and drinking water systems. The program, established by the Vermont Legislature in 2012, assists Vermonters with limited financial resources to cope with increasingly expensive failed systems.

“The On-site Revolving Loan Program fills a critical need,” according to David Mears, Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation. “This is a program aimed at Vermont homeowners, one that provides low-cost financing to those faced with a failing residential wastewater or drinking water system. It is unique in that it provides a viable option to those who demonstrate need, but who have already been rejected by traditional financing in the commercial marketplace.”

Green Mountain College announced today that it will offer the nation's first online Master of Science degree in Resilient and Sustainable Communities (MRSC). This two-year program, accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, will begin in February 2015 with a residency featuring Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature and climate-change activist.

FairPoint Communications, Inc (Nasdaq: FRP), a leading provider of advanced communications in northern New England, has expanded broadband to 50 homes and businesses in Stockbridge. FairPoint’s new fiber-based, high-capacity network offers customers a better, faster way to communicate.

“Our next-generation network allows us to expand broadband service into areas with no high-speed Internet access and provide enhanced services across the state,” said Beth Fastiggi, FairPoint state president for Vermont. “Broadband availability opens the doors to the world for the residents and businesses in Vermont and is fundamental to the state’s future economic growth.”

The ancestors to Burr Morse and his son Tom at Morse Farm Maple Sugarworks of East Montpelier, Vermont learned their trade from the Native Americas as they settled Central Vermont. Today, the eighth generation farm is tapping a 21st Century technology to support their maple sugaring operation. The farm recently installed a 30kW solar tracking system, which will produce more than 45,000 kWh of electricity per year. The new project will cover nearly 100 percent of the farm’s electric demand.

Vermont’s supply of home heating oil is poised to become cleaner and more efficient this summer. The Clean and Green Oilheat Initiative, which was signed into law as part of the 2011 Vermont Energy Act, establishes a timeline for low sulfur, biodiesel blended heating fuel. The first part of the law will be implemented on July 1, 2014, when Vermont requires all heating oil sold in the state to be nearly sulfur free. The Vermont clean fuel standard will become 500 parts-per-million at the end of the month and a mere 15 parts-per-million by 2018.

by Danny Monahan Twelve years ago a fledgling brewery in Burlington consisted only of a lone brewmaster crafting an unfiltered ale for a few select bars in the area. Today, Switchback Brewing Co. is one the most heralded breweries in Vermont selling its beer throughout the Northeast to restaurants, resorts and stores. The brewery’s owners, Bill Cherry and Jeff Neiblum, are awarded the Vermont Small Business Person of the Year, for growing their brewery, expanding the brand and increasing sales. Cherry and Neiblum were joined Tuesday evening by the Vermont SBA advocate winners (The Bees Knees, Grow Compost, Super Thin Saws, Sidehill Farm and Vermont Bean Crafters) to be recognized for their accomplishments by Governor Shumlin, friends, colleagues, family and business associates at the Shelburne Museum.

Opposed by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 12-10 for the construction of the Keystone Pipeline which would transport oil from the tar sands region in Alberta, Canada, to refineries along the Gulf of Mexico in Texas. Sanders said extracting and refining “the dirtiest oil imaginable” would spew more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and worsen global warming. Completing the Keystone XL pipeline, he added, would send a signal that the United States is unwilling to lead the way toward reversing global warming.

“The scientific community has overwhelmingly concluded that global warming is occurring, that it is caused by human activity and that it is already causing devastating problems in terms of drought, wild fires, flooding and extreme weather disturbances,” Sanders said in a prepared statement.