Meeting the requirements of the Global Warming Solutions Act will funnel billions of dollars into the pockets of that diverse network of non-profits, businesses, etc. So, yes, they are most definitely here to help with that process.
By Rob Roper
Ever heard of the Energy Action Network? Probably not. Their mission statement says they are a “diverse network of over two-hundred non-profits, businesses, public agencies, and other organizations working together in a collective impact framework … to help Vermont meet the requirements of the Global Warming Solutions Act.”
Coincidentally, meeting the requirements of the Global Warming Solutions Act will funnel billions of dollars into the pockets of that diverse network of non-profits, businesses, etc. So, yes, they are most definitely here to help with that process.
The Executive Director of EAN is Jared Duval. Duval is also a member of the Vermont Climate Council, the body that wrote the Climate Action Plan and recommended adoption of the Clean Heat Standard. Duval has been given more time than any other witness during testimony before the Senate Natural Resources & Energy Committee on S.5, the Clean Heat Standard bill. He has appeared four times for a total of roughly three hours. For comparison, fuel dealers who traveled to Montpelier to testify because they are going to be driven out of business by this law were given six minutes each.
Also on the board of EAN is Richard Cowart, who, surprise, is also a member of the Vermont Climate Council, appointed by the Speaker of the House. Cowart is a principal at the Regulatory Assistance Project. He is widely considered to be the lead architect and author of the Clean Heat Standard. His consulting business stands to make big bucks from packaging and pushing these policies on other states. Cowart has already pocketed multiple six figures selling repackaged versions of the work he’s done at Vermont taxpayers’ expense to Massachusetts.
Moving on, Darren Springer, General Manager at Burlington Electric, is also on the EAN board. Burlington Electric stands to make a pile of money — potentially hundreds of millions — selling “clean heat credits” to mom-and-pop fuel dealers (and their customers) just trying to survive. And what’s not to like if you’re an electric company and a law mandates the electrification of every aspect of a state’s economy? If you’re wondering while Burlington’s McNeil biomass power plant — that burns wood — is considered renewable energy under the Clean Heat Standard, well, wink wink.
Next we come to Brian Gray, general manager of the Energy Co-op of Vermont, and whaddayaknow, a member of the Vermont Climate Council from 2020-2022. Gray has made no bones about the fact that his business will rake in money from the “clean heat credit” mandates under S.5.
Then there’s Sue Minter, and would you believe it? Yup, she’s a member of the Vermont Climate Council, too.
The EAN Board of Advisors features Neale Lunderville, president and CEO of Vermont Gas Systems, nicely positioned to capture many multiple millions from the sale of “clean heat credits” should S.5 become law. Incidentally, Lunderville is also on the board of trustees for Vermont Digger, Vermont’s largest news outlet, where he serves with, Mathew Rubin, the President of Spruce Mountain Design and developer and operator of renewable energy projects; another fellow looking at tidal wave of cash should S.5 pass. So, if you’re wondering why Digger has been oddly passive in its coverage of the biggest climate change and economy shaking story of our generation, this might be a reason why.
Like Ruben, Leigh Seddon of Solar Works stands to benefit mightily from the passage of a law mandating that citizens buy more of his products, and he is also on the EAN Advisory Board, along with Representative Gabrielle Stebbins, whose other job is with the Energy Futures Group. Energy Futures Group (EFG). EFG is a clean-energy consulting firm, and we can assume a lot of people are going to need advice from experts like this should S.5 pass — advice supplied, I’m sure, for a very reasonable fee.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. EAN is just one of several organizations like it. And then there are our elected officials themselves.
Recently we saw Representative Caleb Elder (D-Starksboro) speaking passionately in the State House about a bill he is sponsoring. “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.”
VIDEO: Environmentalism, or nest-feathering?
Meanwhile, Elder’s 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.” So … yeah.
Elder is not alone.
Minority Whip Representative Mike McCarthy (D-St. Albans), is an employee of SunCommon, the VPIRG for-profit 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.” S.5 will mean a windfall for McCarthy’s employer.
Representative Kari Dolan (D-Waitsfiled), is married to Chach Curtis, the Chief Financial Officer at SunCommon.
Senator 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 make a confident bet on who is paying her consulting fees.
There have been many solid, common-sense arguments made in opposition to the Clean Heat Standard bill. The estimates we have so far put the increased costs to a gallon of home heating fuel between 70 cents and $4. This is a crushing and regressive financial burden. We know that the labor force in Vermont does not exist to do the work mandated by the law. We know that creating and managing a “clean heat credit” exchange bank is too complicated for Vermont’s bureaucracy to handle. Do our legislators not hear these arguments? Do they have cotton in their ears? No. It’s money.
Rob Roper is a freelance writer who has been involved with Vermont politics and policy for over 20 years. This article reprinted with permission from Behind the Lines: Rob Roper on Vermont Politics, robertroper.substack.com
If this becomes law, it will effectually be pulling the sink drain stopper on Vermonts economy. At this point you’re beating a dead horse.
“This terrifying tale provides more proof – as if more were needed – that when you dabble with diversity, equity, and inclusion nonsense (DEI), you will eventually DIE. And it demonstrates the importance of rejecting the tactic of reasoning with these monsters, who themselves reject reason and cannot be swayed or corrected by it. We have to fire them and burn down the institutions they have infected. They are intellectual gangrene, and we must amputate the limb to save the body and cauterize the stump.”
Melinda Deslatte
Wait, she wasn’t referring to the EAN Board of Advisors, Sue Minter and the Vermont Climate Council? My error ….
The conflicts Mr. Roper lists above are beyond troubling. The corruption and grifting has reached Chicago levels. Roper has connected the dots that we all knew existed, and warned about- but voters failed to pay attention. You can bet that legislative arm twisting results in every D/P legislator voting in the affirmative. As many times as required to jamb this bill thru. You can bet this legislation survives phil scott’s veto. You can bet that the costs per btu are grossly understated at $0.70 per gallon. You can bet that rapid consolidation in the fuel service trade will occur in Vermont. You can bet that GMP, VEC, WEC and every municipal power provider has a rate case written, waiting to file. You can bet that VPIRG, CLF and others have lawfare suits to be filed in Washington County court in 2025.
And you can bank on the fact that this bill, S.5 isn’t the only bill that will have a direct, dangerous effect on Vermont’s land, people and economy. Literally dozens of bills await committee passage- all in the name of “improving Vermont”, but actually to provide special interest groups, well… special treatment. Take a look at H.126- a dangerous piece of special interest legislation with the cover story of “conservation”.
Instead, it is a property rights bill, designed to assure government control of your property.
Unfortunately you can be assured that under the “leadership” of baruth and krowinski, the obvious political corruption, obvious ethics violations and complete disregard for both The Vermont Constitution and these legislators oath/affirmation of office will continue. This legislative biennium is about converting Vermont’s government into a totalitarian bureaucracy, a playground for the political elitist and wealthy liberal, while holding a boot firmly on the throat of the middle class.
Our chance to change this is past, the cut-off date was November 8th 2022- and in some sort of illusionary dream world, the voters of Vermont (that did vote) eagerly accepted this legislature- and the resulting consequence.
It’s as if the majority of Vermont’s voters actually seeks and desires the schadenfreude, totalitarian and yes- fascist control of Vermont “government”
Corruption of gov employees use to be a crime. What happened????
We allowed the legislature to craft their own version of an ethics law, without teeth, consequence nor a “sheriff” to actually enforce ethics. Then the same legislators patted themselves on the back for good work done.
Good work indeed.
A Liberal’s world-view is about as opposite of a conservatives as can be.
These people are so corrupt they are not embarrassed by it. This standard will crush homeowners and the economics of people who live here. It can only drive people out of Vermont. I expect some will leave after their homes burn down and they collect the insurance and move to America.
A couple years ago I smelled smoke and could not find the source. I actually took a few minutes to think about what I wanted to get out of the house before calling for help. In the back of my thoughts was the one where I was willing to let it become fully involved first. I would have moved out of Vermont if it happened.
It was a failed flame sensor in the furnace that was allowing smoke to be drawn back through the blower into the house by a window fan. Before I knew that, I was going to scramble to get what was most important to me out, and let it go. I grew up here, but this is the Vermont these communists and crooks have brought to us, and many want to leave it.
“Do our legislators not hear these arguments?” – You are constructing a rational argument in opposition to a dogmatic religion. That is, in itself, futile. It is characteristic of dogmatists that they zealously persecute dissent, forcefully suppress dissemination of heretic ideas. Progressive thought control by Orwellian prohibition of the use of unapproved words is a stark example. They would even have them stricken from the language. The sun, incidentally, is technically not renewable in any sense.
The Popes and Bishops in Montpelier suggest you eat bugs and quiet down.
False religions have been using the “World is going to end” since the beginning of false religions, theocracies and slave owners.
Now back to our regularly scheduled PROGRAM.
Please, follow the program or thy might find yourself staked to a maple tree, just a work place accident of course.