Current News

An historic hydro-electric facility that has produced renewable energy for 81 years is getting a substantial overall starting today. Central Vermont Public Service is beginning extensive improvements to the company s Arnold Falls hydroelectric project, located on Mill Street along the Passumpsic River in Saint Johnsbury. The existing structures, similar to those originally constructed during the 19th Century for nearby mills, consist of two rock-filled, timber-crib dams with concrete abutments. Though the deteriorating timber dams will remain in place, new concrete dams will be built adjacent to them to ensure the facility s long-term future.

Today, Governor Jim Douglas will be traveling to Washington, DC, for events and meetings related to health care reform. At a press conference at the National Press Club, Governor Douglas and Governor Phil Bredesen (D-TN), co-chairs of the National Governors Association (NGA) State Alliance for eHealth, will present the 4th Annual SafeRx Awards. Surescripts created the Safe-Rx Awards to raise awareness of e-prescribing as a means of enhancing patient safety by providing a more secure, accurate and informed prescribing process.

Earlier this week at a Capitol Hill press conference, Vermont Representative Peter Welch introduced the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2009, a bill designed to curb deficit spending. Welch, along with other lead sponsors Majority Leader Steny Hoyet (D-MD), Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt (D-SC) and Representative Baron Hill (D-IN), said that the bill would reform the budgeting process and impose fiscal discipline.
The bill would restore PAYGO budgeting procedures enacted during the 1990s. Under the proposed legislation, lawmakers would have to identify funding sources for new programs, requiring them to cut spending or increase revenue in order to stay revenue-neutral.
The PAYGO bill was first announced by President Obama at a White House East Room press conference last week.
Source: Office of Peter Welch

Governor Jim Douglas announced today that the state will receive $684,544 from an auction of carbon allowances held this week by the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Vermont is partnered with nine other states in the RGGI, an organization that holds quarterly carbon allowance auctions with the goal of investing the proceeds into renewable energy, energy efficiency, and energy cost reduction programs. Carbon allowances represent the limited authorization for a power plant to emit one ton of CO2, as issued by a participating state and purchased through the RGGI's cap and trade program. To date, the RGGI has auctioned a total of 1.2 million carbon allowances.
The selling price for 2009 allowances was $3.23 while 2012 futures sold for $2.06.
RGGI is helping set the example for a federal cap-and-trade program, the Governor said. In Vermont, we are building a green economy and helping Vermonters save money on energy costs.

The Vermont Department of Labor announced today that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for May 2009 was 7.3 percent, unchanged from the revised April rate and up 2.8 points from a year ago. While the job market remained stable and the unemployment rate was unchanged, monthly job growth remained sluggish. Unemployment rates for Vermont s 17 labor market areas ranged from 4.0 percent in Hartford to 10.4 percent in Rutland. Local labor market area unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted. For comparison, the May unadjusted unemployment rate for Vermont was 7.1 percent, down eight-tenths of a point from April 2009 and up 2.8 points from a year ago. The May unadjusted unemployment rate for Vermont was statistically different form the April rate.

A maker of prefabricated homes in Brattleboro, Vermont, has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, but will be sold and remain in business. Winter Manufacturing Inc, doing business as Winter Panel Corp, filed for bankruptcy June 10. According to Jeffrey Lewis, executive director of the Brattleboro Development Credit Corp, the company was forced into the action by disgruntled customers. He said the company faced lawsuits by customers dissatisfied with the product. But, Lewis said, Winter Panel is being bought by another company, World Panel, which will keep the company in Brattleboro and retain all the employees.
Winter Panel manufactures structural insulated panels, featuring a foam core, for the residential and commercial construction industry. In a Vermont Business Magazine survey earlier this year, Winter Panel reported that it had 20 employees. The bankruptcy filing said it had $8.25 million in assets and $1.3 million in liabilities.

Governor Jim Douglas today joined Franklin County farmers and watershed groups at their Rock River Field Walk as part of Vermont s fourth annual Clean Water Day.
Clean Water Day is held annually in June to celebrate the work of Vermonters to improve water quality around the state and to renew the state s commitment to the goal of clean water for all Vermonters.
The field walk highlighted the innovations and progress in agricultural practices that are currently being piloted and used on a number of farms around the county. Wayne and Nancy Fiske of Windfall Acres hosted the event. The Fiskes are leaders in farmers efforts to reduce soil erosion and phosphorus runoff from annual crop and hay land and improve agricultural practices.

The Summit on the Future of Vermont Final Report is now available. The 2009 Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD) Summit on the Future of Vermont marked a watershed point. It turned the findings from the two-year Council on the Future of Vermont project into a challenge to Vermonters, and especially the leaders who gathered together for the day, to consider specific ways to work together to advance a positive vision for the future of the state. Over 500 Vermonters participated in the Summit process on May 11, 2009, coming from all parts of the state, from all sectors of government, business, non-profits and communities. It is exciting just to read the names (in Section VIII at the back of this report) of the diverse and dedicated team of Vermonters who devoted their energy and thinking to make the Summit a success.

Governor Jim Douglas today was joined by State Treasurer Jeb Spaulding, BISCHA Commissioner Paulette Thabault, Greg Marchildon from AARP, John Gannon from FINRA and others at a forum to educate Vermonters, especially senior citizens about how to protect against investment fraud.
All Vermonters, especially senior citizens must take important steps to protect themselves and their finances from investors seeking to defraud them of their live saving and retirement investments. That s why I was so pleased to attend and participate in today s forum, said Governor Douglas. During economic downturns we often see a rise in predatory and exploitive practices by a few bad apples, and we must always be diligent in protecting ourselves from investment fraud.

At a recent awards show, Burlington-based multimedia marketing company Shadow Productions received six Vermont Association of Broadcasters Commercial of the Year prizes. The awards were given at the Vermont Association of Broadcasters (VAB) conference, held at the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Montpelier in May. Among the awards Shadow took home were BEST PRODUCED RADIO COMMERCIAL, AGENCY-PRODUCED; FUNNIEST RADIO COMERCIAL, AGENCY PRODUCED; and FUNNIEST TV COMMERCIAL, AGENCY PRODUCED. Each member of the Shadow Team took home at least one award for writing or production, including producer Rob Ostrander, whose material was entered in the show for the first time this year.

A survey conducted by Opinion Dynamics for the New England Energy Alliance found New Englanders have solid support for electricity and energy infrastructure development in the region. Wind farms are preferred by an overwhelming majority and construction of LNG terminals shows substantial support. A narrow majority support transmission line construction as well as nuclear plant license renewal. However, support for constructing new nuclear plants and clean coal generating facilities remains mixed.

Governor Jim Douglas will sign Vermont s Clean Water Day proclamation, June 18 at 1:15 p.m., at a demonstration and tour of innovative and underutilized agricultural practices in the Rock River watershed in Franklin. Clean Water Day celebrates the work of Vermonters to improve water quality around the state and renews the commitment to the goal of clean water for all Vermonters.
The stewardship of Vermont s waters is everyone s responsibility farmer and city dweller; year-round resident and seasonal visitor and Vermonters take this responsibility seriously, the Governor said.
Join the Governor, Franklin County farmers, the Farmers Watershed Alliance, UVM Extension Service, USDA s Natural Resources Conservation Service, the agencies of Natural Resources and Agriculture, and Friends of Missisquoi Bay at this annual event to celebrate farmers progress in agricultural advances to protect water quality.