Current News

Vermont, eleven other states, New York City, and the District of Columbia filed a motion to intervene in federal court today in support of a Clean Air Act rule that will protect Vermonters by reducing toxic air pollution from coal and oil-fired power plants.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency recently adopted the rule, known as the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, to curb power plant emissions of mercury and other toxic air pollutants, such as arsenic, cyanide, nickel and selenium, that are known to cause cancer, respiratory illness, and other serious health effects.

On the effective date of March 15, 2012, Fitch Ratings upgrades the long- and short- term rating assigned to the $200,000,000 ($170,000,000 currently outstanding) Vermont Student Assistance Corporation Education Loan Tax-Exempt Variable Rate Demand Revenue Bonds Senior Series 2008C-1 and 2008C-2 to 'A+sf/F1+sf' from 'Asf/F1sf'; Outlook Stable
The rating action is in connection with the substitution of the irrevocable direct-pay letter of credit (LOC) previously provided by Lloyds (rated 'A/F1'; Stable Outlook by Fitch) with a substitute LOC to be issued by State Street Bank and Trust Company (State Street, rated 'A+/F1+'; Stable Outlook ).

by Alan Panebaker March 16, 2012 vtdigger.orgEntergy is going back to federal court asking for assurance that the state will not shutter the plant March 21, when its current license expires.
Despite a victory in federal court finding two Vermont laws unconstitutional, attorneys for Entergy expressed concerns that the board would not allow Vermont Yankee to continue operating.
The Public Service Board held a status conference March 9, and briefs are due Friday.
Entergy already asked Judge J. Garvan Murtha for assurance that the plant could continue operating during the proceeding. The Public Service Board at the conference would not guarantee that the plant would keep operating.
With the clock ticking, Entergy’s motion in federal court asks Judge Murtha to preserve the status quo.

by Anne Galloway | March 15, 2012 vtdigger.orgState workers will move back to Waterbury and the replacement facility for the Vermont State Hospital will be 25 beds.
Governor Peter Shumlin announced the double-whammy decisions today at a hastily called press conference with a phalanx of Democratic leaders and members of key committees standing behind him. In remarks, Lt. Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican, lauded the plan.

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet and winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, will explore this thought-provoking subject when he visits Middlebury College to deliver two lectures ― one to the campus community and another to the public ― on October 12-13.
Middlebury faculty, staff, students and ID holders may attend his talk, ‘Educating the Heart,’ at 1:45 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 12. His lecture at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 13, ‘Finding Common Ground: Ethics for a Whole World,’ will be open to the public. Tickets for both events, which will take place in Nelson Arena, will be available through the Middlebury College Box Office.

After a year’s worth of quiet preparations, the Celebrate Vermont Festival is going public. The four-day festival kicks off with a Noah’s Ark Parade of pets and farm animals through the streets of Stowe Village on Thursday August 23h. The following day, Friday at 10 AM, the gates of the Stowe Events field open to all for the three-day session of Celebrate Vermont Festival, August 24-26, at the Stowe Events Field.
Vermonters and visiting guests from the Northeast and Quebec will sample and celebrate the traditional and emerging harvests of our working landscape ‘ a panoply of food, art, craft and culture that comes from our kitchens, farms, forests and the Vermonters who work in them. For 200 years the working landscape has been the major economic driver in our agriculture, forest products and recreational industries.

Online access to the state of Vermont finances got a near failing grade from the US Public Interest Research Group, in a report made public Wednesday. The D- indicates that there is some availability of the state's finances on line, but it is hard to find for the average user. Vermont was joined in the next-to-worst category by states ranging from Maine to New Hampshire to California.
InFollowing the Money 2012: How theStates Rank on Providing Online Access to Government Spending Data, researchers at the US PIRG graded all 50 states on how well they provide online access to information about government spending. States were given ‘A’ to ‘F’ grades based on the characteristics of the online transparency systems they have created to provide information on contracts, subsidies and spending at quasi-public agencies.

The City of Burlington has put the finishing touches on an update to its groundbreaking 2000 Climate Action Plan. The update, the culmination of a lengthy process of public input and prioritization, along with a sophisticated greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory and modeling tool, were developed by Shelly Martin, previously a Project Manager for Spring Hill Solutions, and paid for with Recovery Act Energy Efficiency Block Grant Federal funds.
‘Burlington has a long history of being at the forefront of the climate change issue. We were one of the first cities to join the ‘Cities for Climate Protection’ campaign in 1996,’ said Burlington Mayor Bob Kiss. ‘From there, a forward-thinking City Council adopted our initial Climate Action Plan in 2000. Now we know, beyond any doubt, that addressing climate change is a critical responsibility of good government. I look forward to seeing the updated Climate Action Plan adopted by the new City Council in 2012.’

With escalating tension in the Middle East contributing to rising oil and gasoline prices, Representative Peter Welch today outlined a set of policy steps to help break America’s reliance on oil from countries hostile to American interests.
‘Events half a world away are hammering hardworking Vermonters and threatening a fragile economic recovery,’ Welch said. ‘The best way to break the cycle of surging oil prices is to chart a green energy future built on renewable energy and investments in energy efficiency.’
Welch outlined his four-step agenda at NRG Systems, a global leader in renewable wind technologies:
Extend the Production Tax Credit (PTC). The PTC provides a tax incentive to companies that generate wind, geothermal and other types of renewable energy. The credit expires at the end of 2012.Thanks to the PTC, Vermont was the second fastest growing state for wind installations in 2011 ‘ growing over 650%.

by Alan Panebaker vtdigger.orgSome wood burning plants are greener than others, and one environmental group wants the Legislature to take that into account in a renewable energy bill.
The Vermont Natural Resources Council is pushing the Legislature to prioritize more efficient biomass plants in this year’s energy bill, but its pleas seem to be falling on deaf ears.
A bill in the House Committee on Natural Resources and Energy would require utilities to buy 35 percent of the electricity in their portfolios from ‘renewable’ sources and shoots for a goal of 75 percent renewable electricity by 2032.
The most recent version of the bill makes a distinction between new renewable projects and existing ones that went on line before 2005. It doesn’t do much to separate or prioritize different types of renewable energy.
When it comes to different types of biomass, some say this is a problem.

by Anne Galloway | March 14, 2012 vtdigger.orgVermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant is operating at reduced capacity due to a problem with a key component of the reactor system.
A Yankee official says engineers at the plant are investigating an issue with the condenser.
The condenser is original to the 40-year-old plant and functions something like a radiator ‘ it operates under vacuum pressure and condenses steam from the plant into water and then returns it to the reactor. The condenser is made up of two sections, each the size of a three-story house. Each section has thousands of metal tubes inside it that carry river water, over time the tubing has worn thin.
Last November, during a planned refueling outage, plant workers applied a protective coating ‘ an epoxy or plastic ‘ to the tubing in the condenser in an effort to reduce wear and tear on the metal and extend the life of the condenser.

Burlington Mayor-elect Miro Weinberger today announced a transition team that will assist him in hitting the ground running when he assumes office on April 2.
‘I am eager to hit the ground running and to bring the fresh start to City Hall that the people of Burlington have asked for,’ said Weinberger. ‘Our transition team will be planning for the necessary changes to city government that will allow our community to move forward and thrive. This work includes getting our finances under control, attracting the best people possible to serve in city government, and assessing city departments for improvements.’
Paul Sisson, a local financial consultant and former partner of 26 years with KPMG, and Andrew Savage, a member of AllEarth Renewables’ senior management team and former deputy chief of staff for Rep. Peter Welch, will co-chair the mayor-elect’s Transition Team.