Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Renewable Energy Vermont (REV), the trade association representing Vermont’s renewable energy industry, applauds the U.S. Department of Energy’s announcement that National Grid’s Twin States Clean Energy Link was selected as one of three projects nationwide to receive investment through the U.S. Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Transmission Facilitation Program (TCP). The TCP is a $2.5 billion revolving fund to for building new, large-scale transmission lines supporting interregional transmission projects that will strengthen grid resilience and reliability and enable the addition of more renewable energy resources to the grid.  

Vermont Business Magazine The Nature Conservancy has completed a low-cost river restoration project along one mile of Hubbardton River tributaries at its Hubbardton River Clayplain Natural Area in West Haven, Vermont. The restoration project demonstrates new techniques for improving wildlife habitat, reducing downstream pollution, and improving flood resiliency at low cost. Approximately 75 percent of Vermont’s rivers, adjacent floodplains, and wetlands are in poor physical condition due to centuries of dredging, straightening, and armoring Vermont’s waterways to make way for buildings, roads, and agriculture. The degraded condition of these rivers has contributed to nutrient pollution in lakes and ponds, loss of river and wetland habitat, and increased flood impacts to our homes, businesses, and roadways.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department is asking hunters to participate in its annual deer hunter effort and sighting survey. The survey asks hunters to record how many hours they hunted and how many deer, moose, bears, or other wildlife they saw each day they hunted. This information helps the department evaluate how hunting pressure and the number of these animals varies around the state. The easiest way to complete the survey is to use the Deer Hunting Log feature in the Vermont Outdoors mobile app. 

Vermont Business Magazine Casella Waste Systems, Inc (Nasdaq: CWST), a regional solid waste, recycling, and resource management services company, announced that the Company is adding a new member to its senior leadership team. President & Chief Financial Officer, Edmond “Ned” R. Coletta, will retain his role as President while the Company hires Bradford J. Helgeson to serve as the new Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, effective November 6, 2023.

Vermont State Police Initial investigation into a fire that destroyed the RK Miles lumber yard Wednesday night, Nov. 1, 2023, in Montpelier has uncovered no evidence to indicate the blaze is suspicious. The origin of the fire is undetermined. No injuries were reported. The fire was reported at 6:14 p.m. Wednesday when emergency dispatchers received multiple calls that a building at the lumber yard, at 707 Stone Cutters Way, was engulfed in flames. The Montpelier Fire Department had a crew on scene within four minutes and began an initial attack on the fire. Suddenly shifting winds pushed the flames in the direction of the fire engine, forcing firefighters to evacuate. The engine was a total loss.

Vermont Business Magazine ISO New England has released its draft report on the results of the 2050 Transmission Study. The first-of-its-kind study, driven by assumptions about the region’s future resource mix and demand for electricity provided by the New England states, offers an overview of the regional transmission system investment needed into the middle of the century to ensure reliability throughout the clean energy transition. Cumulative costs to upgrade the transmission system could reach $17 billion to reliably serve a 51 gigawatt (GW) peak in 2050, or $26 billion to support a 57 GW peak, the ISO’s report said. To reach those levels, the region’s annual investment over the next 26 years would need to roughly keep pace with or exceed the average spent each year over the past two decades. The Burlington area presents its own problems, especially in the winter as heating becomes more electrified, because of a lack of generation and high-voltage transmission options.

Vermont Business Magazine The DeltaClimeVT climate economy business accelerator is seeking innovative, start-up and/or seed stage, energy companies offering innovative products or services aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to help Vermont meet its climate goals. During Energy 2024, entrepreneurs will work directly with Vermont utilities who are looking to deploy innovative services and technologies to contribute to Vermont’s 90% renewable by 2050 and Burlington’s Net Zero by 2030 goals over three months of intensive work sessions, including two online and two in-person intensive sessions (each 2-4 days in duration), weekly assignments and bi-weekly webinars as well as frequent 1:1 engagement with mentors.  

Vermont Business Magazine Just in time for the holidays, an innovative online shopping platform is bringing locals a new way to shop. Marrying the convenience of online ordering with a value-driven, locally minded philosophy, Myti aims to keep dollars in Vermont while competing with large-scale global ecommerce giants. Twenty-five local businesses currently partner with Myti, with more being added all the time. A catalog of 19,000+ products is available to shoppers. 

Vermont Business Magazine Senators Peter Welch (D-Vermont), Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), and Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) today commended the Senate’s passage of their bipartisan amendment requiring the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to conduct a review for veterans who served in Kosovo and engaged in a toxic exposure risk activity, on mortality data for these veterans, toxic exposure data, and the type of toxic exposure risk activities these veterans engaged in. 

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s Killington Resort, the largest ski and snowboard destination in Eastern North America, and part of POWDR, will kick off the 2023-24 winter season at 10 am on Friday, November 3, 2023, becoming the first resort in Vermont to open for skiing and snowboarding. The first turns of the season on November 3 will be reserved exclusively for Killington Season Pass, Beast 365 and Ikon pass holders. The resort will open to the general public on Saturday, November 4 at 9 am and will remain open 7 days a week, weather permitting.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott and Chief Recovery Officer Doug Farnham today announced the appointment of Patricia Moulton as Central Vermont Recovery Officer. This is the latest step in building out the necessary organizational infrastructure to coordinate the long-term recovery process for Vermont following this summer’s historic flooding. The Recovery Office is the state-level entity that is tasked with coordinating funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Inflation Reduction Act programs, alongside hazard mitigation and ongoing community revitalization work, to ensure that activities are in sync across the many government, nonprofit and volunteer efforts already underway or slated for future deployment. 

Vermont State Police On Wednesday night, the Vermont State Police were notified of a tractor trailer in Smugglers' Notch. When Troopers arrived on scene, they located the tractor trailer in the Notch blocking the roadway. The operator of the truck was identified as Shakur Awfarah, 44, who was working for Sagal Transport LLC. Awfarah told Troopers that he was following his GPS and subsequently got stuck while heading north through Smugglers' Notch.