Many Vermonters are not civically engaged. This lack of engagement creates a void in Vermont’s democracy, a void that is oftentimes filled with dis- or misinformation, attacking the integrity and transparency of government.
So before acting, just remember — regardless of age — we’re all role models for someone, and we all need to play our part. And it’s never too late to be a better person.
I have often spoken on overregulation in Vermont. Some is good in order to protect citizens, plants, food, animals, etc. from disease, invasive species, insects, pollution and water. Act 250, however, is a hinderance to farm and forest operations.
The bill targets independent truckers who aren’t on the payrolls of large unionized corporations. The Teamsters union is keen on this because they want the dues money to bankroll the campaigns of candidates who will pass ever more pro-union legislation. For independent truckers and small non-union companies, it’s “join the union or stop trucking.”
Despite Ethan Allen Institute estimates of a surcharge on heating fuel of as much as $4.00 per gallon which will unravel implementation of the AHA, the committee continues to seek advice on how to prevent the program from being opposed on legal grounds.
Less than two weeks after dismissing the gas stove furor as little more than tinfoil hat conspiracies, Granholm’s own agency proposed energy efficiency standards that ignited opposition from the gas appliance industry.
Keep in mind that of Vermont’s roughly $8 billion annual budget, roughly $6 billion is paid for with federal dollars, and of that $6 billion about half is “one-time” emergency funds. Vermont taxpayers are only required so far to pony up a little more than $2 billion of all that spending — and that is tapping us out.
The bill seeks to shield reproductive health and gender-affirming providers and out-of-state persons seeking care in Vermont from “abusive litigation” from other states in which legislation and judicial judgments regarding these types of care conflict with Vermont’s.
Where are Vermonters, whose enviro extremists have already driven out our dependable Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, going to get enough electricity to run 120,000 electric cars by 2030, not to mention hundreds of thousands of electric heat pumps?
Sorry, Mr. McKibben, no matter how I squint at those turbines, all I see is our absolute failure to take responsibility for our impact on the world and the creatures that we share it with.
The clean heat standard is dead. That’s not to say that S.5 won’t become law, because it will. But the fatal flaws in the policy which will prevent its implementation became very clear this past week.
It is disconcerting to see how the Vermont Legislature and the Vermont governor are now betraying us once again, as they casually dismiss Vermont law and citizen involvement in their own local governments.