By John McClaughry
Over the past year I’ve spent a lot of time denouncing what I call the worst democracy-shredding bill in Vermont history. It’s titled the Global Warming Solutions Act (H.688), and it’s now before the Senate.
Here’s one particularly deplorable feature of the House-passed bill. If the secretary of Natural Resources does an inadequate job of issuing sweeping and invasive rules to make Vermonters stop emitting carbon dioxide, the bill allows the Conservation Law Foundation to go to court, like it did in Massachusetts, and get a court order to demand that the secretary issue even more sweeping and invasive rules.
And if the group bringing the suit substantially prevails in the court, the court is supposed to pay its legal expenses and send the bill to the taxpayers — even if nothing actually comes of this political fund raising exercise.
What if the secretary of Natural Resources, who works for the governor, replies to the court, “We’re not going to impose more stringent rules because we think we’ve gone far enough in wrecking Vermont’s economy.”
Is the court going to sock the secretary of Natural Resources, and the governor, with a contempt of court citation, and fine them maybe $100 a day until they do something the court finds satisfactory — like decree a climate change surcharge on motor fuel sales? Or shut down Thunder Road?
At this point no one really knows, and I assure you it is not worth finding out.
John McClaughry is vice president of the Ethan Allen Institute. Reprinted with permission from the Ethan Allen Institute Blog.
May I ask a dumb question? Let’s say for instance the gas tax were raised to equal the cost of a gallon thus doubling the cost of gasoline, how pray tell do those who can’t afford the tax get to work or do their daily chores? Answer, they can’t and the tax legislation ends up throwing the baby out with the bath water. For the life of me, I can’t fathom how these carbon crusading idiots think. One possible explanation is they DON’T think. Of course, the irony of this whole exercise is that if Vermont went to zero emissions tomorrow, it would have no impact whatever on the global warming problem PERIOD!!!! The real culprits are in places like India and China. Take the blinders off guys and dolls.
That is there plan, make you rely on the Government so they can control you.
GWSA
The Global Warming Solutions Act (H.688)
Has this happened to your Representative?
• The Vermont house of representatives is comprised of 150 members.
• Of those members, 142 or 95% voted on H.688, legislation which encourages citizens to sue their own government and force compliance of rules written by bureaucrats.
• Of the 142 voting, 105 or 74% voted in the affirmative to force adoption and compliance of said rules as ordered by a judge and written by the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources. While the judge cannot prescribe policy or award punitive or financial damages to a plaintiff, tax payers would still have to pay the legal fees and eventually be faced with the additional costs associated with enforcement of new or existing rules found in violation of the law’s intent.
• Of the 105 voting in the affirmative, 87 or 83% were sponsors of this bill.
• If all 87 sponsors of the bill are also members of the Vermont Legislative Climate Solutions Caucus, then 100% of them were engaged in Lobbying activities to promote H.688. This essentially means they have become activists of a coalition encouraging support of this agenda!
But, is their roll to lobby, or represent their constituents?
• Do they have conflict of interest?
• Who are they representing, their Constituents or the Global Climate Lobby?
Are they activists for a coalition, or our sovereign representatives?
• How can they be accountable to both?
• I spoke with my representative & sponsor numerous times about this bill and in my
opinion, I was heavily lobbied by him each time!
My Representative is an honest man, who sincerely believes in what he is doing, but he has become a lobbyist and an activist, and I fear I am no longer represented!
————-If this is happening to you, don’t stay home————-Get out and vote for a change!
Sovereign Individual Rights & Personal Liberty
The Global Warming Solutions Act (H.688) is one of many that violate the essence of Vermont’s sovereignty, yet we continually debate the bill on its merits, instead of questioning the agendas dominance or legitimacy, why?
Is there a reason why so many of our representatives seem compelled to ignore the negative impact this bill will inflict on Vermonters, in contrast to the negligible difference, if any, it could accomplish in the context of a global world?
Perhaps the answer lies in who is setting the legislative agenda, most legislators I know, are serious honest people trying to do the best job they can for Vermonters, but what if they were focused on the wrong mission? What if their efforts were the result of a powerful lobby and an army of non-profit activists?
Could they recognize the difference between a foreign agenda and one that fulfills the true purpose of governance they are charged to uphold and represent?
Apparently not given the content and direction of H.688, and it will only get worse as bureaucrats begin to craft policy and rules for this bill of legal manipulative maneuvering.
While it may be legal for non-profits and others to form coalitions that lobby state government, and for legislators to form caucuses, is it ok for them to form a coalition with each other that could influence governance? And does that constitute a conflict of interest?
Is it appropriate for legislators to become activists for a cause they are charged to vet, if so how does that represent the Sovereign Individual Rights and Personal Liberty of Vermonters?
The Oath taken and the Allegiance demonstrated must be as one for proper representation!
Global Warming Solutions Act (H.688), is just another attempt from Liberals
working as stooges for the globalist agenda, this boondoggle is just another
way to kill the state as we know it.
The state is already overhead in debt, and now our legislative geniuses want
to pass this scam…………… wake up people !!
Enough, is enough !!
The bill passed by the Vermont legislature could well have been written as satire by Jonathan Swift. If they enact the bill, enforce the regulations and the climate doesn’t do what they want, what’s the next step? To rationally decide the actions mandated by the bill have proven to have no effect and abandon it? Apocalyptic cult religions don’t work that way. There is only one pure truth and it is immutable dogma like the geocentric universe. Drinking the KoolAid is not optional and the refrigeration only works when the sun is shining.
We’ve been missing the boat completely.
the nwo order people have been having us fighting democrats.
We should have all along separated the American loving democrats from the United Nations, puppets and New World Order Pimps.
they have framed the conversation completely with the help of the rinos and we are going to be a puppet pretty quick. Nobody less than 40 knows any American history, they have no clue what is going on.
Without a background in the scientific method, they also have no understanding what true science is about., Digger saying there will be no posting on articles about science or medicine…..that is raging crazy, absolutely cray cray….
Better get your comments in quick only 24 hours allowed, they must have been pummeled with logical reasoning and couldn’t take it any more.