Vermont Public Service Department Commissioner Christopher Recchia has announced that the Governors Energy Generation Siting Policy Commission has issued a final report to the Governor and Legislature. The Commissions recommendations, developed with broad public and stakeholder input, focus on bolstering the local and regional energy planning processes and ensuring that local and regional plans receive greater consideration before the Public Service Board (PSB).
The Commission was created by an Executive Order issued by the Governor on October, 2, 2012, and conducted site visits and public hearings across Vermont between October 2012 and April 2013. With the aim of providing greater community and regional participation in energy planning, the five core recommendations of the Commission are to:
Increase emphasis on energy planning at state, regional, and municipal levels, and provide funding and tools for such planning
Simplify the existing tiered approach to siting, improve predictability and timing in the permitting process, and provide incentives for community-led projects
Expand opportunities for public engagement
Implement procedural changes to increase transparency, efficiency, and coordination
Update environmental, health, and other protection guidelines
The recommendations lay out a path for regional plans to receive substantial consideration before the PSB. When a regional plan has been approved by the PSD as being consistent with state statutory energy targets and the goals of the Comprehensive Energy Plan, the regional plans elements would be viewed as dispositive by the PSB. Municipal plans would also receive substantial consideration before the PSB if they are consistent with regional plans that include advanced energy planning.
I thank the Commission for its great service to Vermonters and for the many hours committed over the past six months, said Governor Shumlin. I appreciate the Commissioners work, and look forward to examining the recommendations and working with the Legislature and other partners to achieve our energy goals.
Jan Eastman, who chaired the Commission, added, I am proud of the Commissions work and grateful to my fellow Commissioners for the time they invested in understanding the challenges of energy siting. After listening carefully to public comments and stakeholder input, we have a set of recommendations that can increase public participation, encourage community dialogue, and improve how we site energy projects in Vermont.
Commissioner Recchia, who along with Agency of Natural Resources Secretary Deb Markowitz acted as an ex-officio member of the Commission, said, The Siting Commissions recommendations will help towns and regions to better engage in our energy planning and to increase their roles before any proposed projects are considered by the Public Service Board. I believe the collaborative, bottom-up approach the Commission outlined will guide us toward better outcomes for energy development.
Brian Shupe, Executive Director, VNRC, issued this statement: "VNRC has long believed that Vermont can and must pursue the twin goals of advancing clean, renewable energy and protecting the natural resources, communities and people that make Vermont unique.
"The final report of the Energy Generation Siting Policy Commission, released today, offers some solid recommendations to adjust how and where energy generation projects are sited to ensure that Vermont adequately avoids the degradation of critical resources while significantly increasing our reliance on clean energy.
"The report lays out several helpful recommendations, including outlining a potential 'tiered' approach to move smaller-scale projects forward faster, while requiring a more robust public engagement process for larger projects. It also expands the role of regional planning, with the goal of identifying areas in each region that are more or less suitable for energy development. While the details are yet to be worked out, if properly structured, these are strategies could help to address many of the concerns that have surrounded past energy projects.
"VNRC was one of the organizations who called on the Governor to create a commission to address some of the issues that concerned Vermonters have raised. We applaud Gov. Shumlin for creating the commission, and we thank the five volunteer commission members and the commissions staffers for their hard work. The commissions recommendations provide a solid framework to begin refining our approach to energy siting, allowing us respond to some valid issues while maintaining our commitment to bringing more renewables online.
"We look forward to reviewing the report in more detail in the coming days."
A copy of the full Energy Generation Siting Policy Commission report is available at: http://sitingcommission.vermont.gov/publications
The Public Service Department is an agency within the executive branch of Vermont state government. Its charge is to represent the public interest in matters regarding energy, telecommunications, water and wastewater.
April 30, 2013