A coalition of 21 states and one city’s attorneys general are backing an EPA supplemental proposal that would regulate methane emissions in the oil and gas exploration industry.
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.”
Last Thursday, lawmakers in the House Committee on Environment and Energy heard testimony on a bill that would restrict about a third of the state’s lands from development.
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.
Devanney’s point applies in many types of government regulated activities. The regulator has to overregulate to protect his own position, no matter how senseless or costly the outcome.
Recent debate regarding a potential ban of gas-fired stoves has provided a fresh example of the Biden administration’s callous regulatory bent. Public backlash, however, could cause them to put the notion on the back burner.
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.
Social justice, equity, and income sensitivities may sound nice, but when these ideals come into conflict with political patronage and rent-seeking from influential players they’re quickly dismissed and their sincere advocates stifled.
Initiatives targeting a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions would be funded if the Vermont Office of Climate Action gets an additional $200,000 in the state’s upcoming fiscal year 2024 budget.
A Vermont environmental leader and 2020 candidate for governor is warning the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee that its plan to convert Vermont from fossil fuels to electricity will strain the state’s power grid.