Current News

The Lake Champlain Fish and Wildlife Management Cooperative (Cooperative) will be applying lampricides to portions of six tributaries and three delta areas of Lake Champlain during the months of September and October. The US Fish and Wildlife Service, Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife, and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation will be treating the Boquet, Ausable, Little Ausable, Salmon, and the Great Chazy rivers in New York and Lewis Creek in Vermont as part of the Cooperative’s long-term sea lamprey control program for Lake Champlain. The Boquet, Ausable, and Salmon river deltas will also be treated in New York. Treatments are scheduled to begin with the Boquet River on September 9. Treatment dates are always contingent on weather and may change with short notice.

The Vermont Small Business Development Center (VtSBDC.org) as part of its many business services is offering several workshops for those thinking about starting their own business – taking their idea and turning it into a full-fledged venture. The workshops on - “How to Start Your Own Business” are held at various locations around the state.

Got a great idea and not sure how to get going? Taking the idea and turning it into a viable business is where most great ideas get lost. So what does it take to plan, start and run a successful small business where you can realize the challenges and satisfaction of working for yourself? Take the next step and learn how to get going in the right direction. Experienced VtSBDC Business Advisors will walk you through the basics and much more in this four-hour workshop designed as a step-by-step guide for the first-time business owner.

A few workshop highlights:

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) says Vermont will receive a $42,895 grant from the US Fish and Wildlife Service to support research and monitoring of bat populations as the insidious white-nose syndrome continues to spread in Vermont, the Northeast, and beyond. Discovered in 2006 near Albany, NY, white-nose syndrome (WNS) affects hibernating bats through a fungal infection on the muzzle and other parts of the body. Affected bats act strangely and put themselves at risk during cold winter months by flying outside and clustering near the entrance of caves, according to FWS.

Two species most affected in Vermont are little brown bats and northern long-eared bats. Both have lost up to 90 percent of their populations in the last three years, and researchers fear that if the trend is not broken, the common little brown bat could completely disappear within 15 years.

Sprint has announced that its all-new network in Vermont received the first-place RootScore Award for call performance and shared the first-place RootScore Award for text performance according to a recent report by independent testing company RootMetrics. Last week Sprint also introduced new shared data plans that offer double the high-speed data at the same price as AT&T and Verizon Wireless.

“We’re very proud to report that Sprint’s all-new network offers outstanding call and text performance in Vermont,” said Joe Meyer, vice president of Sprint Network Performance. “With our new data plans, there’s never been a better time to switch to America’s Newest Network.”

Best Deal on Data

TDI New England announced today that the United States Department of Energy has issued a Notice of Intent to prepare an environmental impact statement to assess the potential environmental impacts of the proposed New England Clean Power Link transmission project. The link will carry power from the Quebec-Vermont border, under Lake Champlain and then over-land to Ludlow. This review will be done in response to TDI New England’s application for a Presidential Permit, which was filed in May 2014. According to information contained within the NOI, the DOE anticipates issuing a draft EIS for the project in April 2015 and the final EIS in October 2015. A Presidential Permit is necessary for TDI-New England to construct, operate, maintain and connect the New England Clean Power Link across the U.S-Canada border.

AT&T has turned on its 4G LTE network** in Rutland, bringing customers the latest generation of wireless network technology. This expansion is part of AT&T's Project Velocity IP (VIP), a three-year investment plan announced in Fall 2012 to expand and enhance its IP broadband networks. Through this investment, AT&T is supporting its customers' growing desire for high-speed Internet access and new mobile, app and cloud-based services. As part of Project VIP, AT&T plans to add macro cell sites nationwide by year-end 2015, as well as deploy small cells and add Distributed Antenna Systems to increase the density of its wireless network.

AT&T 4G LTE provides:

PC Construction of South Burlington was recently named as one of 2014’s Top 200 Environmental Firms in the country by Engineering News-Record (ENR), the construction industry’s trusted source for breaking news, data, and analysis. This year PC Construction placed 47th in the top 200 environmental firms and 15th in the wastewater treatment category. The annual report ranks leading engineering and construction firms based on percent of 2013 gross revenues for environmental services including hazardous waste, water treatment, wastewater, air, nuclear waste, environmental management and environment science.

Earlier this year, PC Construction was also recognized by ENR as 91st in the Top 100 Contractors by New Contracts and 148th in the Top 400 Contractors nationwide.

About PC Construction

Free training and certification for Vermont diesel truck drivers and fleet managers about the benefits of idling reduction is now available online. This program can have a powerful impact resulting in cost savings, increased vehicle efficiency, reduced number of employee sick days, and reduced environmental impacts.

EPA has provided additional grants of $3.275 million in supplemental funding for communities in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont to carry out cleanup and redevelopment projects at contaminated Brownfields properties. The projects will help communities create jobs while protecting people’s health and the environment. Two Vermont agencies will get a total of $750,000.

The supplemental funds will support an array of cleanup and redevelopment projects in the following New England locations:

Former Vermont Governor Jim Douglas will discuss his new book The Vermont Way at the University of Vermont at 2 pm on Wednesday, September 3 in John Dewey Lounge, Old Mill. UVM President Tom Sullivan will introduce Governor Douglas, who will sign books after his talk. The event is cosponsored by the Center for Research on Vermont and the UVM Department of Political Science.

Green Mountain Power (GMP) announced today that state regulators have approved the company’s proposal to decrease electric rates by 2.46 percent for residential and commercial customers starting October 1. The rate decrease will be the second decrease offered by GMP in three years and is part of the company’s mission to deliver reliable, clean and cost-effective power to its customers.

“Our energy future is a bright one. We are empowering customers with new tools and resources to control energy use and save money while at the same time bringing down rates for all customers,” said Mary Powell, President and CEO of GMP. “Lowering electricity rates at a time when other costs continue to rise, is an important part of helping Vermont families and businesses.”

FirstLight Fiber, a facilities-based telecommunications service provider operating fiber optic networks in Upstate New York, Vermont and Northern New England with connectivity to Canada, announced today it has signed a definitive Asset Purchase Agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of New Hampshire-based G4 Communications, including G4's customer base and data center located in Manchester, New Hampshire. The transaction is expected to close following c