Current News

Vermont Business Magazine As folks head to their lakefront properties for the summer, the Vermont Lakes and Ponds Program is offering guidance to help property owners protect and restore their lakeside properties. The Shoreland Best Management Practices guidance highlights different ways owners can improve lake water quality and the health of lakeshore habitat. Owners can use this guidance to plant native trees and shrubs, install rain gardens to absorb runoff, improve driveways and pathways, create no-mow zones, and more. The Shoreland Protection Act regulates new activities in protected shoreland areas that are within 250 feet of the shoreline of lakes and ponds 10 acres in size or greater.

Vermont Business Magazine Over the next decade, ISO New England is forecasting an approximate 17% increase in energy demand on the power grid. This is primarily driven by the electrification of heating and transportation sectors, presenting a critical shift in energy consumption patterns. Vermont will increase solar production by 60 percent over the next 10 years, add 120,000 electric vehicles during that time, while electric heating (heat pumps, etc) is expected to increase almost tenfold over the next decade. The findings published this week in the 2024–2033 Forecast Report of Capacity, Energy, Loads, and Transmission (CELT Report), serve as a resource for system planning and reliability studies. The CELT Report delves into various factors shaping the region’s energy landscape, including economic growth, weather trends, and state-level carbon reduction objectives and adoption of technology like electric vehicles and air sourced heat pumps.

Vermont Business Magazine In celebration of American Wetlands Month, the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) wants to help land buyers make informed decisions when buying property with wetlands. “When buying land, it is important to know if some or all of the property is part of or near a wetland,” said DEC Commissioner Jason Batchelder. “If you plan to develop your property, it may be necessary to obtain a wetland permit.” Before purchasing property, find wetland locations and learn more about wetland permitting.

Vermont Business Magazine On May 15, 2024, the Vermont Public Utility Commission announced that it is seeking three members to serve on the Vermont System Planning Committee – an alternate member representing the commercial and industrial electric consumers and a primary and alternate member representing the supply resources. The alternate member representing commercial and industrial electric consumers will fill a current term ending on July 31, 2028. The member or alternate representing supply resources will serve a five-year term, starting no later than August 1, 2024, and ending July 31, 2029. The VSPC plays a key role in the planning process for Vermont’s electric transmission system.

Vermont Business Magazine Dartmouth College takes a leap into the sustainable future with the installation of the region's first off-grid solar electric vehicle charging station designed for workplaces. Solaflect Energy, based in Norwich, Vermont, is the visionary creator of this groundbreaking EV charging system called the Solar EV Charger, which aims to meet the growing needs of EV commuters at Dartmouth College with sustainable solar power. The Hanover, New Hampshire-located Solar EV Charger benefits from abundant annual sunshine, providing up to 40,000 miles of EV charging per year, or 10,000 miles for each of four participating employees through four Level 2 chargers.  This far exceeds the average Dartmouth employee's annual commute and is more cost-effective, with a per-mile cost that is only a quarter of traditional gasoline expenses. Moreover, the 'fuel' powering these EVs is 100% renewable, harnessed directly from the sun.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s turtles are on the move, and the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department is asking for the public’s help in keeping them safe.  Female turtles will soon be looking for places to lay their eggs, and they sometimes choose inconvenient or dangerous locations.  For example, turtles often lay eggs in gravel parking lots and driveways and along road shoulders, which puts them at risk of being hit by motor vehicles. Turtle nesting activity peaks between late May and mid-June, and drivers are urged to keep an eye out for turtles on the road – especially when driving near ponds, rivers and wetlands. 

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Electric Co-op members recently got a rundown on how the co-op is planning for increasing weather-related threats to the power system during VEC’s Annual Meeting at Smugglers’ Notch Resort. The morning-long event took place this past Saturday, May 11. Speaking to a crowd of about 160 people, Dr. Jay Shafer, chief science officer at Disaster Tech outlined the increasing threats of weather due to the changing climate. VEC’s chief operating officer Peter Rossi then updated members on the types of investments the co-op is making to increase both the reliability and resiliency of the VEC power system in the face of these risks. After the presentations, the Q&A period focused on the future of the grid, integration of renewables, and managing expected increases in demand in the coming years.

Northeastern Vermont Development Association Transitioning to safer, more efficient electric technologies is a process, not a single project. Whether you're ready to make the switch now or planning for the future, in this 30-minute webinar, you can learn how to create an electrification plan to upgrade your home for greater energy efficiency, reduced costs, increased comfort and safety. Also check out this *NEW* Vermont-specific “incentive calculator” giving households a personalized list of the many federal, state, and utility rebates and offers they can use for climate-friendly clean technologies and money-saving efficiency upgrades.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont) today released the following reaction to the announcement by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has paused plans to consolidate USPS facilities through a process called mail processing facility reviews (MPFR), which threatened to move mail sorting operations from Vermont’s Essex Junction and White River Junction sorting hubs to Connecticut. This move likely would have further slowed mail operations across Vermont and was widely and strongly opposed by USPS customers and workers alike. 

by Jim Hall As the CEO of the Vermont Country Store (VCS), I strongly support consumer privacy as does the Vermont Chamber of Commerce and many peer companies in the state. I wholeheartedly endorse the Connecticut law that was the foundation of H.121. However, as passed it is my hope that Governor Scott will veto H. 121. I am extremely concerned about certain provisions of H.121 and the threat they pose to small businesses, including businesses based in Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont), Chair of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Rural Development and Energy, and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) introduced the Rural Innovation for a Stronger Economy (RISE) Reauthorization Act, a bill to reauthorize and improve the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s RISE Program. Created in 2018, the RISE program provides federal grant funding to rural job accelerator partnerships that support in-demand job training, business formation and expansion efforts, and overall economic growth. 

Vermont Business Magazine As part of his investigation into the outrageously high price of Ozempic and Wegovy in the United States, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today released a stunning new report exposing the potential of weight loss drugs to bankrupt American health care. In the report, HELP Committee Majority Staff modeled how new weight loss drugs could impact prescription drug spending, even while taking into account estimated manufacturer discounts. Key findings from the report include: If half of adults with obesity took Wegovy and the other new weight loss drugs, it could cost $411 billion per year – more than what Americans spent on all retail prescription drugs in 2022 ($406 billion).