VPIRG & Partners Receive $150,000 to Implement Catamount

The Vermont Campaign for Citizens Health Education Fund and VPIREF (The 501 c3 arm of VPIRG) announced this morning that they were awarded two grants. The first, $100,000 from The Public Welfare Foundation enables the Campaign to hire and train canvassers who will go to villages and towns across the state in order to educate and inform people on how to enroll in Catamount Health and other state programs. The second, $50,000 awarded to VPIREF from The Nathan Cummings Foundation is to further work on implementation and outreach efforts for Catamount while looking towards a future of expansion. $10,000 of this award has been given to the Vermont Campaign for Citizens Health Education Fund in order to assist with the hiring and training of canvassers.

These two grants open the door for VCHCSEF and VPIREF to expand their work on ensuring a healthy and affordable future for all Vermonters. Paul Burns, our executive director here at VPIREF stated, “This grant offers critical support that will allow us to watchdog the implementation of this new program and work to expand its benefits to more Vermonters in need.”

The VCHCSEF Team was joined this morning at a press conference announcing these to grants by Susan Besio, Director of Health Care Reform and Implementation for the state, and Representative Steve Maier of Middlebury chair of the House Health & Welfare Committee and Co-Chair of the Commission on Health Care Reform. Both were very generous in their praise for the work the Campaign has been doing and stated their high hopes for continued partnership, commitment, and success.

For ya'lls info: The Nathan Cummings Foundation is a nationally recognized philanthropic organization devoted to social justice issues. The Public Welfare Foundation “pursues a strategy of "service, advocacy, and empowerment" for meeting basic human needs and promoting democratic participation for people around the globe.”

--Sean Sarah, Field Associate

GLOBAL WARMING BILL PASSES

final vote by my count is 86 in favor, 60 opposed, 3 absent.

Thanks to all for hard work to get this bill done, the strong margin is a reflection of all the work Vermonters have done to demand action on global warming.

Huzzah!

post from the floor of the Vermont State House

Post # 2 from the statehouse floor.
Debate still raging. Several Representatives have attacked the bill and Rep. Shap Smith, Rep. Tony Klein and Robert Dostis are defending it.

Opponents agreements focus in 3 main areas: 1) that the process creating this bill is flawed, 2) that the tax on Vermont Yankee is unfair or violates an earlier ‘deal’ and 3) that taxing Vermont Yankee will hurt business in the state.

Several members have noted that they supported H.520 when it passed the House some weeks ago, and feel that this version goes too far. That’s tremendously misleading since, as you may remember (click here and scroll down if you need a refresher), the bill passed weeks ago was weak and would have done little to stop global warming.

The bill as being considered today WILL do something about global warming and that’s why many representatives are standing up to defend it, citing experiences with Bill McKibben’s walk last summer, Step It Up events and the enormous number of letters, calls and comments you’ve sent in over the last few months.
Sitting on the floor of the VT House as the representatives file in to vote on H.520, the comprehensive global warming bill we’ve been working on all year. Today promises to be an historic vote … one way or another.

I spent most of the last hour in the Democratic caucus. There were several good and moving speeches in favor of the bill. Most notably to my mind:
1) Tony Klein (D-E. Montpelier) did an excellent job defending the bill, explaining its merits and putting into perspective the limited life-span of Vermont Yankee.
2) House Speaker Gaye Symington also spoke eloquently and passionately about the difference between being for a bill with no money, which will do nothing to stop global warming, and being for a bill that has the funds it needs to be effective at stopping global warming.
3) On the negative side, Al Perry (D-Richford) spoke strongly in opposition to the bill. We’re worried his speech may have moved other democrats, especially those from Franklin County, to oppose the bill.

I’ll post again when debate gets going.

Global Warming Bill Enters Home Stretch

Last night the conference committee on H.520 finished its work and the Vermont Senate gave the improved bill their final approval. Now there’s less than 24 hours to call your house rep and tell them to VOTE YES. This one is going to be close, so call now and make sure your legislators knows you care!

The Senate vote happened so fast, if you weren’t listening closely to the debate you might have missed it. There was a discernable chuckle in the chamber in fact. Several Senators later complained that they hadn’t had a chance to get back into the chamber and offer their "Aye" vote, though since the vote was on voice, instead of by roll call it would not have made much difference.

If you’ve been following the news in the Free Press, Times Argus or other outlets you’ve also no doubt heard about the new spin on the tax on Vermont Yankee that funds that expanded efficiency Vermont. Initially, legislators considered taxing Vermont Yankee's windfall profits. Over the next 4 years they will make over $100 million in unanticipated profits because the price of oil has gone up and changes in the New England electricity market have all of us paying a little more to energy companies like them.

But when legislators were researching this idea, they discovered that Vermont Yankee has been paying a lower property tax rate than other businesses and power generators - like wind farms, for example - will be required to pay. So they decided simply to require Vermont Yankee to pay its fair share. In the bill that came out of the conference committee and was passed by the Senate, Vermont Yankee has to pay the same tax rate as wind farms in Vermont -.003 cents/kWh, to be exact.

Now, as a general rule, VPIRG believes that polluting power sources like Vermont Yankee should pay HIGHER taxes than clean, safe and affordable alternatives like wind power. But in a year that’s been dominated by calls for property tax fairness and relief for Vermonters, we're willing to accept a bill that at least levels the playing field between polluters and clean power.

Vermont Yankee is not. In a desperate attempt to change the subject from tax-fairness and clean power to … well, anything else, several lawmakers held a press conference yesterday attacking VPIRG. It got ignored or pushed to the end of most stories except the Brattleboro Reformer’s, but some folks are claiming VPIRG tried to hide our involvement in a series of ads that ran in 8 newspapers and on several radio stations.

The ads encouraged Vermonters to contact their legislators because we believe decisions about Vermont’s energy future should be made by Vermonters, not Entergy lobbyists. Anyone who thinks we were trying to hide our involvement needed to look no farther than our homepage at http://www.vpirg.org/ to see that we were proud of our involvement. We’re also not the only ones responsible, and we didn't want to take all the credit when there were a number of people who helped make these ads happen.

With less than 24 hours to go, you can bet we are NOT distracted. We’ll be on the phones again tonight, and back in tomorrow’s paper if you read the Times Argus, so stay tuned, stay engaged and call now to stop global warming!

Bid for a Better World and help support VPIRG!

Are you bored by EBay? Frustrated that Yard Sale Season has not quite arrived?? Feeling guilty when you spend money on commercial online auction sites??? Have we got a great deal for you!

VPIRG is partnering with the State Environmental Leadership Program (SELP) to create “Bid for a Better World” -- an online auction of great items with all net proceeds supporting the work of VPIRG and other similar environmental and public interest organizations across the country.



The auction items run the gamut from a year’s supply of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream (currently the hottest item in the auction!) to spectacular vacations in Idaho, Montana, North Carolina and Vermont, outdoor gear, and regional specialties such as a raspberry gift package from North Dakota, and a beautiful recycled glass wind chime from Alabama. More items are being added regularly so it pays to keep visiting the auction site (it’s also a good way to keep an eye on your bids.)

Yes Virginia, there is truly something for everyone and it all supports great organizations – like VPIRG.

Happy bidding!

Andrea Stander
VPIRG Development Team

Global Warming bill passes Senate

Many of you have joined us this year in advocating for legislation that addresses global warming. VPIRG members packed town halls and church basements at the start of the session, called and emailed Senators and House reps literally thousands of times, and marched in Step It Up Rallies demanding action, not just talk, to avert climate disaster.

Now, after months of action your work is finally paying off: Yesterday the Senate voted to pass H.520, the omnibus energy and climate act (more info below) by a razor thin margin. I was there for the last minute wrangling before key procedural votes Tuesday and Wednesday and can attest to the reports that virtually every corporate lobbyist in the State House is working to kill the bill, which is the only legislation still moving that will help stop global warming.

On Tuesday, Entergy and the Governor fought hard all morning to line up votes to kill the bill. They very nearly succeeded. A morning vote was postponed, and VPIRG staff worked the phones to get calls in to wavering Senators form our members in their districts. By 3:30, we knew we were making progress, but also that the vote was very close. By 7:00 that night, after several hours of debate the Senate voted by the thinnest of margins: 15-14 to keep the bills funding intact and later sent it to a third and final reading.

We thought we were out of the woods, and sent an email alert to our members encouraging them to contact their House representatives, where a close vote is expected soon once a conference committee works through a few remaining details.

But Sen. Racine of Chittenden County considered introducing another amendment to cut H.520’s funding by 95%. So VPIRG was back on the phone Wednesday morning too, calling a handful of members in Chittenden, Franklin and Windsor counties to ask them to contact your Senators in the moments before they took the floor to vote. It was a tense and fast-paced morning, but our work paid off a second time: Sen. Racine withdrew his amendment. And when a similar Sen. Mullin of Rutland offered a similar amendment, many of the same Senators members had called voted correctly, and kept the funding for S.94 intact.

All eyes are now turning to the House, where our opponents will spare no expense following their loss in the Senate. Your voice is needed! A close vote is expected as early as next week. It is essential that every member of the House hear from constituents that global warming is a must-pass issue this session.

You can help by contacting your House Representative(s) through the Sargent at Arms office 802-828-2228, or VPIRG’s website. We also need help calling lists of VPIRG members across the state, only about 10% of our members are on our email list, and we need to reach more of you than ever before on this important bill. Contact me at 223-8421 x4787 or drew@vpirg.org if you’re interested in volunteering one or more hours in the next 10 days to help pass the most aggressive climate legislation in the country.

Yours in action,
Drew Hudson
VPIRG Director of Field and Communications.

More info
• Allows Efficiency Vermont to help Vermonters save money and stop global warming by using less heating fuel as well as electricity;
• Funds the expanded Efficiency Vermont with a tax on Vermont Yankee’s windfall profits;
• Requires that our utilities purchase 20-25% of our electricity from renewable generators by 2012;
• Helps Vermonter’s install small wind, solar and other renewables to lower their electric bills and Vermont’s global warming emissions;
• Supports the development of wind farms in Vermont by guaranteeing them a fair tax rate;
• Gives incentives for individuals and businesses to develop larger solar power systems;
• And more…