The question now is whether or not the members of the Appropriations Committee — a money committee —will raise the critical questions about what financial impact this bill will do to people trying to survive Vermont winters.
Given how much high-minded rhetoric has been dedicated to “a just transition” away from fossil fuels, the committee’s failure to even consider reaching out to Vermont’s director of Racial Equity except as an afterthought was revealing.
It turns out the real long-term cost of the Affordable Heat Act, S.5, proposed by the Natural Resources and Energy Committee is $5 billion over a 5-year period as demonstrated in a detailed financial analysis by the Ethan Allen Institute.
In this video, Gregory Thayer interviews Judy Taranovich, vice chair of the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association, and Manny Fletcher, president, about S.5.
Senate Bill 5, the Affordable Heating Act, was approved unanimously by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Friday morning. The bill is a reprise of the clean heat standard the Legislature passed last year only to be vetoed by Gov. Phil Scott.
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.
Sen. Dick McCormack, D-Windsor, suggested that the committee consider scrapping the whole thing and simply enacting a carbon tax on fossil heating fuels and use the money to fund programs that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
On Wednesday, Ethan Allen Institute President Myers Mermel testified before the Senate Natural Resources and Energy committee regarding S.5, the Affordable Heat Act.
This week the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee may vote on its clean heat standard bill, but discussion of the bill at the end of last week’s hearings demonstrated that committee members still don’t understand how key elements of the bill they been crafting work.
“I get it that what we’re essentially doing is directing the PUC (Public Utilities Commission) to put together a kind of a ‘Rube Goldberg,'” Sen. Dick McCormack said. “I don’t see how this works.”
The fact is that the Unaffordable Heat Act will be twice as expensive for Vermonters as the failed Clean Heat Standard. First of all, it will pressure Vermonters to buy a brand new heating system, which could cost Vermonters an out-of-pocket expense of upwards of $20,000.
Sen. Chris Bray wants to have the clean heat standard bill out of his committee by the middle of this month. Committee members are getting push back from some unexpected quarters, which has led to some testy exchanges between lawmakers and witnesses.