“There is no economic study, no fiscal analysis of the Clean Heat Program, and S.5 currently contains no cost containment provisions. … I am concerned the Senate design will end in disaster,” Natural Resources Secretary Julie Moore said.
The people have spoken. They don’t want a carbon tax on home heating fuel. And we don’t need to spend $1.75 million to find out that this whole scheme is unrealistic and unaffordable. It’s not. So, dear public servants, just kill the bill.
The Affordable Heat Act will increase income inequality and punish low and moderate income people, particularly our BIPOC population. It is an immoral, regressive surcharge on the most vulnerable among us.
Sen. Ruth Hardy’s attitude is, I’m not wrong. You are wrong. And I’m not going to pay attention to you — despite that being my job to represent your interests in state government. This is what democracy in Vermont looks like today.
I’m realistic enough to know H.74 will not be considered in today’s political majority in Montpelier. However, I will not stop in advocating for a balance in what Vermonters can achieve and afford in efforts to reduce our green house gas emissions.
On a narrow 4-3 vote, a Vermont Senate panel on Tuesday advanced legislation that could set in motion a study looking at greenhouse gas reductions and the cost of doing so across the state.
A Vermont public policy group says the state’s proposed Affordable Heat Act would have an upfront cost of $5 billion. The Ethan Allan Institute said Monday that Senate Bill 5 would become the state’s largest social program in history if signed into law.
S.5 proponents now want to make everyone pay — literally and figuratively. That is the bottom line and it will undoubtedly bring destruction. We must see this for what it really is: a gut punch to Vermont.
Maybe Sen. Westman is better off leaving his $22,000 system sitting in the yard. If the clean heat standard becomes law, many Vermonters will be pushed into buying equipment that they can’t afford, might not be able to have installed, and, if it is installed, may not even work to keep them warm in winter.
The (misnamed) Affordable Heat Act (S.5) is on its way to the Senate floor. As the likely consequences of this bill become more widely known, a multitude of questions have been raised.
Sen. Anne Watson, D-Chittenden, appeared on the “Morning Drive” radio show with host Kurt Wright on to discuss the Affordable Heat Act — and struggled to explain how the legislation would help Vermonters.
Continuing with Sen. Starr’s theme, I have recreated Sen. Bray’s Top 10 list from his verbal testimony so voters can see just how manipulative politicians and activists selling this ideologically driven legislation have been.