Current News

US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), chairman of the Senate s green jobs subcommittee, today introduced legislation with nine cosponsors to encourage the installation of 10 million solar systems on the rooftops of homes and businesses over the next decade.
At a time when we spend $350 billion importing oil from Saudi Arabia and other countries every year, the United States must move away from foreign oil to energy independence, Sanders said. A dramatic expansion of solar power is a clean and economical way to help break our dependence on foreign oil, reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming, improve our geopolitical position, and create good-paying green jobs.

Vermont s second largest municipality is one step closer to developing a new downtown after getting a key designation that will allow it favorable tax treatment on development there. The Vermont Downtown Board recently approved the City of South Burlington s application for New Town Center designation, paving the way for the establishment of a multi-story downtown area on undeveloped lands surrounding the new Market Street across from University Mall, including the San Remo Drive area.
This decision formalizes the state s recognition of the city s long-standing desire to create a new downtown, said Kevin Dorn, Vermont Secretary of Commerce and Community Development and chairman of the Downtown Board.

The University of Vermont is taking steps toward identifying “spires of excellence,” or academic areas where the University will focus its resources in order to create renowned programs.
Eight faculty committees, organized based on “transdisciplinary topic areas,” are investigating the possibility of developing “spires” within that academic area and submitting proposals explaining why the university should invest in it. The broad topic areas were grouped according to information gathered at a dean's retreat in August 2009, and faculty nominated themselves to the committees in the fall.
After preliminary recommendations made by reviewers from within the UVM community and beyond, the “spires” will be selected by university officials in April and May.
(Source: University of Vermont)

Entergy Vermont Yankee is reporting today that one of the newly installed monitoring wells, located just to the east of the nuclear power plant’s condensate water storage tank and some underground piping, appears to be closer to the source of a tritium leak because its concentration is 774,825 picocuries per liter. Vermont Yankee engineers working to identify the source of tritium in the plant’s groundwater are installing new wells closer to several plant structures to further characterize the tritium concentration in the groundwater near equipment and buildings. The continuing sampling of monitoring wells should help the investigation team locate the source. The EPA has set 20,000 picocuries per liter as a safe level for drinking water. To date, the tritium samples have been found only in monitoring wells on site in Vernon, and not in any public wells or the adjacent Connecticut River.

Approximately $20 million in State of Vermont Citizens Bonds will be offered for sale on February 25. The opportunity to purchase the general obligation bonds will be made available first to Vermont residents and businesses. The last Vermont Citizens Bonds offering in March 2009 sold out in less than three hours.
Bonds may be purchased in $1,000 increments and must be bought through a registered broker/dealer. The bonds maturities will range from one to 10 years. The State Treasurer s Office does not sell the bonds directly and does not endorse any particular broker/dealer. Any bonds remaining after Vermonters have had the opportunity to invest will then be made available to retail and institutional investors from outside of the state.

The Vermont legislature is currently considering a proposal by Governor Douglas, which he announced along with members of the Senate Economic Development Committee, to dedicate $8.67 million in available federal stimulus funds for economic development. Part of that proposal would appropriate up to an additional $500,000 to the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing (VDTM) for the promotion of Vermont as a winter destination. At less than 6 percent of the available federal stimulus package, $500,000 is a small portion of those funds but can help tremendously with this winter s tourism economy.

Fitch Ratings has assigned an "A+" rating to Vermont Housing Finance Agency's 1990 single-family housing bond resolution. Fitch has labeled its rating outlook "stable." Fitch's long-term credit ratings operate on a 10-grade scale from "AAA," the highest-quality investment grade bond, to "D," the lowest category junk bond.The resolution, which includes approximately $447 million in outstanding bonds in Series 9 through 27, was created in 1990 and issued bonds from 1990 to 2007. This is Fitch's initial rating assignment for the resolution."We're pleased with Fitch's rating, and think it's a demonstration of the rating agency's faith in the long-term viability of VHFA," said Executive Director Sarah Carpenter. "The loan portfolio consists of 30-year fixed-rate seasoned loans. The majority, 53 percent, is privately insured. The second largest portion, 27 percent, is uninsured with safe loan-to-value ratios of 80 percent or lower.

The America's Great Waters Coalition has designated Lake Champlain a national “Great Water.” A joint project of the National Wildlife Federation and 30 additional organizations, the Coalition was started in December 2009 to preserve the “Great Waters” of America.
After the lake was not recognized on the group's original list of waterways, local lake advocacy group the Lake Champlain Committee joined the Coalition and lobbied to have Lake Champlain added. Local organizations Friends of Northern Lake Champlain and the Business Alliance for a Clean Lake have also joined the Coalition.
Other “Great Waters” are Chesapeake Bay, the Everglades, the Great Lakes, the Gulf of Maine, Long Island Sound, the Mississippi River, Puget Sound, and San Francisco Bay. For a body of water to make the cut, it must be of a certain size, have a restoration plan in place, and have organizations involved with the Coalition.
(Source: Lake Champlain Committee)

In response to numerous concerns and issues that have been raised by Governor Douglas, Vermont Department of Public Service Commissioner O’Brien, state and federal legislative leaders and the public at large, Entergy Corporation has pledged to place the highest priority on restoring trust with Vermonters.
Curt L Hébert, Jr, a past chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has been designated to lead a team of Entergy specialists addressing Vermont Yankee matters. Hébert serves as Entergy’s executive vice president for external affairs and reports directly to J. Wayne Leonard, Entergy’s chairman and chief executive officer.
The team has already begun to meet with public, business, labor and civic leaders in Vermont. Two Entergy officials with long experience in Vermont will play expanded roles on the team. They are Brian Cosgrove, who will manage relations with state government, and Larry Smith, who will coordinate communications and media relations.

The January 2010 Mortgage Monitor report, released by Lender Processing Services, Inc. (NYSE: LPS), a leading provider of mortgage performance data and analytics, showed that home loan delinquency rates in the US have now surpassed 10 percent. Factoring in foreclosures in process, according to the data in LPS' database, the total non-current rate sits at 13.3 %. When extrapolated to reflect the entire mortgage industry, this rate indicates that more than 7.2 million mortgage loans are now behind on payments. In addition, an estimated one million properties are now owned by banks. The January 2010 Mortgage Monitor report is an in-depth summary of mortgage industry performance indicators based on data collected as of December 31, 2009.

Governor Jim Douglas today met with 10 other Governors, Cabinet members and high ranking Administration officials to discuss energy policy with President Obama and Vice President Biden. The President and Governor Douglas agreed that a non-ideological, bipartisan approach is necessary to confront the nation’s energy challenges and investments in biofuels, biomass, hydroelectric, nuclear and other clean forms of power, as well as investments for efficiency will be critical to the America’s energy future.
“I appreciate the opportunity to talk with the President on these important issues,” the Governor said. “As Washington debates our national energy policy, Vermont’s lessons and achievements must be part of that dialogue. From in-state efficiency measures to our regional partnerships, like the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, Vermont is confronting the challenges of energy independence and climate change on many fronts.”

Following four consecutive weeks of decline, weekly unemployment rose slightly. For the week of January 30, 2010, there were 1,072 new regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance last week, an increase of 50 from the week before. Altogether 14,961 new and continuing claims were filed, an increase of 126 from a week ago and 1,287 fewer than a year earlier. The Department also processed 5,059 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), 127 more than a week ago. In addition, there were 3,370 Second Tier claims for benefits processed under the EUC08 program, which is an increase of 162 from the week before. The Unemployment Weekly Report can be found at: http://www.vtlmi.info/. Previously released Unemployment Weekly Reports and other UI reports can be found at: http://www.vtlmi.info/lmipub.htm#uc