By Rob Roper
Legislators and activists gathered in the Cedar Creek Room of the Statehouse last week to announce plans for a bill mandating that Vermont reach a goal of 100 percent renewable energy by 2030. This would require, according to the speakers, a doubling or tripling of the amount of in-state renewable power over the next seven years.
What was striking about the press conference, apart from the remarkably ambitious timetable, was the fact that most of the advocates of this bill would benefit financially from the policy should it become law. Most of the demand for renewable energy is not market driven, but artificially generated through large subsidies paying people to provide goods and services to customers who are either similarly subsidized (carrot) or simply mandated by law (stick) to buy them.
Rep. Caleb Elder, D-Starksboro
As such, the advocates were calling for “a public financing stream that will pay for the upfront costs” of installing solar panels, etc., and to eliminate zoning and other permitting hurdles that allow communities and/or citizens to block larger scale renewable energy projects they don’t want.
One of the speakers at the 100% renewable energy press conference was Rep. Caleb Elder, D-Starksboro. Elder spoke passionately about the need to “force development” of solar projects.
“The climate crisis,” said Elder, “cannot be put in abeyance by NIMBYism. We cannot complain about the degradation of our forests, the blight of our ecosystem. … So what is this bill going to do? It’s going to force new renewable energy development in state.”
At the same time Elder is advocating for this policy, his campaign website boasts, “I have enjoyed 14 years working in the Renewable Energy sector in Vermont, including solar project development for homeowners, schools, nonprofits and businesses. I currently operate Elder Energy Services, LLC as a solar sales consultant.”
VIDEO: Environmentalism or Nest Feathering?
So, it stands to reason that if this 100% renewable energy law passes and pours millions of taxpayer dollars into subsidies for businesses, citizens and municipalities buying, selling, and installing solar systems, a solar sales consultant will be well positioned to profit as a result. This raises a serious ethical question about conflicts of interest our legislators have when they are advocating for and voting for creating pools of money they will ultimately be benefitting from in their private businesses.
Elder is not alone. Minority Whip Mike McCarthy, D-St. Albans, is an employee of SunCommon, the VPIRG spin off that describes itself as a “Vermont-based installer of residential solar power systems.” Their website describes McCarthy’s job being part of “SunCommon’s community and commercial solar teams, finding ways to get our larger solar projects sited and financed.”
Rep. Kari Dolan, D-Waitsfiled, is married to Chach Curtis, the Chief Financial Officer at SunCommon.
Rep. Gabrielle Stebbins, D-Burlington, is a managing consultant at Energy Futures Group, whose job “specializes in the development of policy and programs for promotion of renewable energy, strategic electrification and energy efficiency.”
Sen. Becca White, D-Windsor, lists her current employment as a cashier at her local food co-op, but also, according to her campaign website, works “part-time doing policy consulting.” She doesn’t say who she consults for, but given her past employment includes SunCommon, Efficiency Vermont, and VPIRG, and she is currently serving on the Natural Resources & Energy Committee busy writing S.5, the Clean Heat Standard bill, one can safely guess who is paying her consulting fees.
Some legislators over the past several legislative cycles have tried to pass stronger ethics rules for lawmakers regarding, in part, financial transparency and disclosure of conflicts of interest. Unfortunately, those efforts have failed to gain serious traction.
Rob Roper is a freelance writer who has been involved with Vermont politics and policy for over 20 years. © Copyright True North Reports 2023. All rights reserved.
These are revolutionary ideas that come from the people who are very very wealthy.
When John Kerry flies on a Gulf Stream and lectures us that our problem is our leaf blowers, or every once in a while the Obamas venture out of their Martha’s Vineyard estate or their new Hawaii beachfront home to lecture us about climate change, you can see that these ideas come from the established, the elected, the powerful. It’s not the people in the streets that are demanding that we stop exploration of natural, gas, or we open the border wide-open, or essentially destroy it. It’s the elite. It’s very different from most revolutions, these are not grass-root revolutionaries.
h/t to Victor
Hey Look at all the FTX money Vermont Democrats got, they are way up on the list!
https://twitter.com/unusual_whales/status/1622339655013392384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1622339655013392384%7Ctwgr%5Ea1ec4320869488f944e471a77a78845c4baeb540%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.infowars.com%2F%3Fcp%3D1
https://www.infowars.com/posts/report-ftx-reveals-donations-sent-to-politicians-see-the-list-here/
What a surprise! Is anyone calling for an investigation within Montpelier? lol…nope. nothing to see here, move along. We have complete control of the media and everyone in Montpelier, cancel culture is strong.
While they were robbing, lying and stealing from us……
looks like Vermont is having a cardiac arrest pandemic! Should we shut the state down for this?
https://dailyclout.io/vermont-had-double-the-number-of-fatal-cardiac-arrests-in-2022-compared-to-the-pre-pandemic-average/
would be nice if health and safety of the citizens was their priority…
Vermont last I heard got a D- in ethics, here is but one reason why. The date 2030 should be like a siren song for patriots to defend our country, it is the original Agenda 2030…..sold out by President Bush in the 90’s for the New World Order….
Why does being a good steward of the land always require giving up all our money and power to a small group of people who endorse marxism? Just curious, seems to be the overwhelming trend these days.
Our first Lgbqrst rep in the swamp saw fit to vote against a bill condemning the atrocities of socialism. While not alone, 86 other D’s, voted to support those atrocities showing their in the tank for marxism/socialism/communism. becca the boob fits right in with America haters of the left.
It’s like I said in my previous commentary:
“So, the reason to immediately pass expensive, radical environmental bills and put the financial squeeze on low and middle income working Vermonters comes downs to this. Follow the money, follow the money, follow the money.”
If we had the means to track down these personal gains as Rob did in this article, and track the money poured into the Democrat and Progressive parties and individual campaigns from special interest groups we would see clearly why all this is happening in Vermont.
I believe that these representatives are passionate about solving climate change. I am! The key thing that our representatives don’t understand is the grid’s capacity to handle the intermittency of the power. They need to understand what’s happening with the Sheffield Highgate interface. No matter how much generation you add to the grid, if there is not enough load and not enough capacity, you’re going to have to shut it down. I am totally committed to working to solve climate change and will work on this until my last dying breath. My frustration for well over a decade has been the lack of desire and understanding to solve the grid problem. I am happy and honored to be leading the effort to get every Vermont home and business connected to reliable Internet, which is a necessary foundation. It is just a matter of time before physics catches up with politics. The good news is that by that time, there will be reliable connections to every address in Vermont that will enable the smart grid, which is a necessary foundation.
Ms. Hallquist- In the battle of platitudes vs. physics, physics remains undefeated. You understand the ‘grid’ and delivering retail power, that has been your career, and an asset to those that value your experience in their debates regarding Vermont’s energy policies. Where things seem to go sideways is the words and work of the climate evangelist, using emotion to rally support for their cause. whether or not there is a real problem or not. I do not wish to argue what the effect of 3.225%(man made CO2)has of .04% (total CO2) in the earths atmosphere).
However, the Vermont legislature’s reaction to this perceived problem is a larger problem. Thru the legislature’s diktats, Vermont must now radically implement policy change far beyond technology’s capabilities to affordably accomplish these diktats. Surely, as you have written above- the engineering capabilities are available, but the dollars to convert the engineering to infrastructure are many decades away. As you have outlined above, Electric utilities are spending (and charging) billions nationwide to accomplish the political goals of the climate evangelist. Rushing to keep up, given the dollars available- it appears that a ‘band-aid’ approach has been used to date. You’d know for instance what Vermont utilities have spent just to balance electric loads for existing solar and wind generation and could give a darn good guess as to what needs to be spent to incrementally increase the use of just these 2 sources, successfully. You also know the balancing act required by utilities to keep electrons flowing to the user- and the cost for power to be available to fill the gaps of solar and wind generation. Your frustration of others not understanding the ‘grid’ and it’s requirements is indicative of the emotionally driven approach used by the legislature and climate evangelist.
Platitudes won’t keep the lights on or homes heated, sound energy policy based on fact, capabilities and current resources will.
Certainly- we must agree that Fiber to the Home will not keep the lights on, nor allow current technology heat pumps and ductless splits keep homes warm- and that a carbon ‘fee’ on hydrocarbons used for home heating is a regressive tax- doing nothing to keep people warm.
A 75 year old grandmother, living in her family home just cannot be expected to use a pellet stove, nor fire up a portable generator when the utility power goes out during a storm. I see no accommodations for her, nor many others- old, young or disabled in any current climate legislation. I do see a rather petulant lot of legislators, rushing bad legislation without consideration of the consequence- or choosing to be ignorant of the consequence to all Vermont residents. Your ED position for the VCBB allows you position to inject reason and logic into the legislative debate, to counter the lobbyist’s and evangelist’s narratives and dollars suffocating the legislature.
If your so passionate about climate change Christine perhaps you and the rest of the warming hoax flock should go to China, India, Russia, and all of Asia to convince them to change their power generators as they can wipe out what ever minuscule overly expensive co2 savings Vermont garners in the blink of a eye. Doing it so you feel like your doing something isn’t a reason to drag the citizens of VT through the monetary wringer of climate hoax. If your not making a difference on a global level your accomplishing NOTHING except making life much harder for every day Vt’ers. By the way a 7 year study just completed in Antarctica states NO warming in the last 7 years..your fighting a war you can’t win and a war we shouldn’t be in.
So calib the commie want’s to FORCE joke power down our throat whether we want it or not. After reading the 2 articles below about solar failing to delver during the most important months to have power it seems he should be bought up on criminal negligence charges for endangerment of citizens rights to have heat to not freeze to death. After last weekends -40 you’d think these self important thinking dweebs would have a insight why it’s not a good idea, but while their lining their own pockets not much chance of that.
Any of these commies making money off this scam of all scams should be barred from public office and prosecuted like they had a “R” after their name. It all starts at the top with weasle welch being the 5th or 6th top stock options benefactor and baliant first vt lbgqrst rep jumping right on the FTX ukraine money laundering scheme. Monkey see monkey do..Until their prosecuted they will continue being criminals at your expense.
A lot of interesting comments. Well said!
This is my opinion which is not based on any scientific study, simply because no one cares to study it.
The droughts in the western states and the increase in tornadoes in the mid to southeastern states have been amplified by the installation of solar fields and windmills in the west. I’ve been told solar panels increase atmospheric heat. And it’s obvious that windmills disrupt the natural flow of surface winds. Power companies started installing large tract solar installations around 2005. That’s when California started experiencing their first of many successive drought that eventually became on continuous event. During those years, more and bigger solar tracts were built, from California to Texas. The of thousands of windmills were raised. And yet no one is studying their effects on the weather. As I said, this is my personal opinion.
The Butterfly Effect
Just wrong! These people should not be permitted by law or other to be legislators or committee members while tied to companies in a position to make money off the taxpayers.
All the way to the top:
“The lesson I have learned in the last years … is money, money, money, money, money, money, money.” – U.S. climate envoy John Kerry on meeting the Paris Agreement’s global warming target.
I have 20 solar panels in my yard on a pole that I can vary the pitch on for the seasons. They stopped producing power about November 18th. I had checked them about the 15th because there is a monitoring system attached. They were installed in 2016. The inverter was warranted for 12 years. I checked them again in Dec. about the 16th and realized that it had not been working. I called the Mfg. they said I had to call the installer. The installer is in Queens NY. I had to pay the mileage for the tech to come and check the system and he could only make it here Jan 18th. On the 18th he said it was broken and he did not have the part and did not know when he would be back. I called the installer a few days later and they said they were waiting for approval from the Mfg. It is now Feb 6th, no contact from the installer yet about anything. Green MT. Power called me about Jan 15th to tell me that my system was not producing any power.
This was OK while it was working but now it has become a joke. $23,000 shot in the A–. Go ahead and tell me how we are going to depend on renewables. What BS. Oh by the way. Solar Edge is the manufacturer and Apex Solar is the installer just in case you want to avoid some unnecessary problems. You can’t just call the Matag repair man.
Roland,
What a terrible situation.
I have seen towns that have installed huge arrays on large acreage and I often wonder what happens when a story like yours hits these.. imagine a small town needing to deal with the cost of these sorts of problems..The cost could be devastating. I don’t believe it’s an IF but a When..
(I’d move out of a town that had a whole lot of solar panels!)
It looks like they made their money, got their share of the subsidies, and screw you, if it does not work after a few years. That is PV solar
My neighbor, about a mile way, has two stationary units on poles, each with 12 panels, about 8 years old. Recently, I met him, and ask how the system was doing.
At first, I thought he was going to hit me. I asked him what’s the matter. He had a similar story to yours, plus he needs new dc to ac inverters.
With smart meters, GMP knows you are not producing, plus a lot of other things about your ways of using electricity.
Does not that make you feel good to have a foreign company watching you?
And then they’ll go out of business before the warranty expires, they what are you goingto do!…. I love the 30 year warranty on lightbulbs…that company will most surely not be around 30 years from now.
Mr. Roper,
With this report, you’ve exposed the tip of a corruption iceberg that is pushing the actions of a number of progressive-liberals in the Vermont legislature to hasten the ‘Climate Crisis’ payouts. Human made climate change is not possible, and claiming otherwise is a fraud and a hoax. The greed and quite possible criminality you expose is entirely man made. Please continue this line of investigation and keep shining a light on this legislative swindle.
Thank you…
Fighting climate change is a mere slogan used by the insiders, to collect more and more subsidies from ratepayers and taxpayers, while screwing all others.
They know they are doing it, but do not give a damn, while laughing all the way to the bank.
Vermont ranks as one of the least open states, meaning things are decided behind closed doors.
Meaningless meetings are held, in charade, dog-and pony show fashion type fashion.
The outcome is pre-ordained, i.e., to screw those with some money and give it to growing number of never do wells to shore up voting blocs.
That corruption is no better than Vermont’s elections. How could it be? The same type people are involved, chosen to ensure “proper” outcomes!!
Isn’t this labeled crony capitalism? These people know this won’t work but who care’s if your making bank by forcing this garbage on the little people, shades of Nancy Pelosi’s insider trading. Isn’t there a lawsuit in this somewhere, like a class action suit. They are lying about this, they know it can’t work and they should all be charged with ethics violations and failure to abide by their oath to the Vermont constitution under the pains and penalties of perjury.
Dano,
They were credited with enough ballots to get in office.
Those ballots include those with votes, and those who were INSERTED to get the NARROW win for the favored candidate.
This ultimately led to the veto proof majority, to get passed, just about any law, that boosts their finances, and screws everyone else, big time.
But whom would investigate, charge and prosecute these “representatives”? Surely not the Ethics Commission, the legislature set this board up with no teeth.
The answer is at the polls, Election Day- had not the legislature and james condos rigged the
ballot system in 2020, while they distracted you with silly mandates about SARS-CoV-2.
when I ran against Carri Dolan, I found out later she knocked on every door, I wondered why somebody who was well off would want that position so badly…
Kinda all makes sense after one learned who her husband was doesn’t it?
Transplant or dubious political beliefs
Addison County certainly has it’s legislators hooked firmly to the climate bandwagon, with hidden and not so hidden conflicts of interest.
Of course, There’s always this document- fresh and less than a year old to guide these sage custodians of Vermont’s Constitution:
https://ethicscommission.vermont.gov/sites/ethics/files/doc_library/Quick%20Summary%20Vermont%20Code%20of%20Ethics.pdf
Wind and Solar are Molly-Coddled up to Their Armpits
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Grossly Excessive Financial Incentives: About 45 to 50% of the “wind, all-in LCOE” (levelized cost of energy) of wind turbine projects consists of various financial in incentives. I have the 20-y spreadsheets.
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If no financial incentives were available, Owners would have to sell their electricity at almost 2 times the price, c/kWh, they now receive, which would be very bad PR for wind.
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THE FINANCIAL INCENTIVES ARE THE REASON MANY $BILLIONS OF $DOLLARS ARE MADE AVAILABLE BY RICH PEOPLE WHO ARE PROFITING FROM LUCRATIVE TAX-SHELTERS, SUCH AS WARREN BUFFETT, WHILE LEGALLY SCREWING ALL OTHERS, ALL IN THE NAME OF THE HOLY GRAIL, “SAVING THE PLANET”
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Wind Output is Variable Almost 100% of the Time: I looked at the hour-to-hour wind output in New England (ISO-NE website) for an entire year, 8766 hours.
I was bleary eyed.
I found there ALWAYS was some wind output. It was NEVER zero.
Wind output is variable almost 100% of the time
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Counteracting Variable Wind Output: What makes wind a grid disturber, or very expensive, or very uneconomical (take your pick) is the VARIABLE output, because OTHER generators (likely gas-fired power plants) HAVE to counteract the output variations, UP TO NEAR ZERO wind output, 24/7/365, year after year.
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By exporting excess electricity, such as to Quebec, via not-yet-existing HV DC lines, NE generators will do less counteracting, but Quebec generators will do more counteracting; there is no free lunch in the real engineering world.
Cost of Counteracting Variable Wind Output: The counteracting costs imposed on the other generators will be an addition to the “all-in LCOE” of the other generators.
Depending on grid conditions/topology, that cost addition is:
Less than 5% at up to 5% annual wind penetration,
About 5% at about 10% wind penetration,
About 10% at 15% wind penetration, etc.
That cost addition becomes very large at high levels of wind penetration, because more and more of the other generators will be operating less economically, due to:
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1) Ramping up/down, at about 75% of rated output, to counteract, on a minute-by-minute basis, the variable wind outputs; more Btu/kWh, more c/kWh
2) Being on hot, synchronous standby, and cold standby; more Btu/kWh, more c/kWh
3) Having much more fuel-guzzling cold start and stops; more Btu/kWh, more c/kWh
4) Having much more wear and tear, more Btu/kWh, more c/kWh.
5) Producing less, but more expensive electricity, due to inefficiently operating, at a lesser capacity factor, with wind on the grid
NOTE: The more wind and solar on the grid, the larger the electricity quantities that need to be counteracted, and the greater the cost of the counteracting services, as proven in Germany and Ireland.
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Ignoring the Money and Environmental Impacts? The public not looking at the wind project spreadsheets and not being made aware of wind’s lifetime adverse environmental consequences, is exactly what “rich folks with tax-shelters and their protectors” want.
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Over the decades, those folks have set up nationwide PR structures to lie and cheat every-which-way to get their projects approved, built and paid for in Europe and the US.
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In that manner, wind is ARTIFICIALLY made to LOOK economically and socially palatable to the kept-ignorant/deluded/brainwashed ratepayers and taxpayers.
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The PR ideal is to make “skunk-wind” perceived as a “low-maintenance, perfumed beauty at a garden party”.
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To sum up, wind gets:
1) Various federal and state financial incentives,
2) Plus, free electric grid expansion/augmentation,
3) Plus, free backup/standby power plant services
4) Plus, free grid management services
5) Plus, free hazardous waste disposal during project life, and at end of life,
6) Plus, free legalized killing of bats and birds, including bald eagles, and of whales,
7) Plus, free legalized ruining of the fishing industry,
8) Plus, free sickening of people and animals with infrasound, which is felt, but not heard,
9) Plus, free visual blight all over the place
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There would be no wind, solar and battery systems without the huge, politics-inspired, financial incentives.
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Thank heavens, ISO-NE has, till now, adequate backup/standby plants, plus adequate natural gas and fuel oil storage capacity near power plants, to INSTANTLY COUNTERACT the ups and downs and absences of wind and solar, 24/7/365, year after year.
You all notice the date specific to complete this energy transformation by, 2030. This is because this agenda is driven by the United Nations 2030 agenda. Our polititians and the Biden Administration are working hard at meeting the UN sustainability development goals, from migration to equity and decarbonization.
Same conflict of interest with bills pushed for by Planned Parenthood abortion and transgender care business. Check out S. 37 and H. 89 and then ask yourself who benefits financially?
Just coincidences…..we have many of those in our state, coincidences….that is. Many, many coincidences in our state. Maybe change our plates. Coincidence or die, Marxist Vermont.