VPIRG gives state F for Act 125

October 30, 2008

MONTPELIER – After going through the Envision process, school nurse Joan Fitch noticed a 33 percent drop in headaches, nausea and asthma issues at the high school.

Montpelier High School is one of only 7 percent of the more than 300 schools throughout the state to earn a Certificate of Achievement for Environmental Health. During a press conference at the high school on Wednesday, Vermont Public Interest Group, VPIRG, called that number abysmal, considering the goal was set at 50 percent by Jan. 2005. The VPIRG report card was based on a legislative report released by the department of health in Jan. 2008 and approved by commissioners from the Department of Health, Education and Buildings and General Services.

According to the VPIRG report card, children are more vulnerable to the effects of chemicals because of the following: Pound-for-pound children breathe more air, drink more water and eat more food than adults. Children play close to the ground and engage in repeated hand-to-mouth activity. Children are less able to metabolize and excrete most toxic substances. The organs and critical systems of children's bodies are still developing.

Envision is a program developed through the Department of Health, per Act 125, to assist schools in creating and implementing an environmental health management plan. The program...

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Wood-heat trend raises concerns of air quality

October 26, 2008

Winter is coming and the smell of wood smoke is in the air, and likely to grow stronger. As homeowners turn to wood heat to try to save money, some observers are watching carefully to see whether the trend will affect air quality.

The tiny particles in wood smoke can contribute to a range of health problems, from asthma to heart disease. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, even a federally certified wood stove produces more emissions of fine particles than an oil or gas furnace.

But environmentalists such as James Moore, a clean-energy advocate at VPIRG, think wood fuel makes sense for the Earth and the Vermont economy.

"It's crazy that we spend hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars every year to buy oil from Saudi Arabia to heat our homes in Vermont when we have local resources that could meet the need for less money."

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Burlington warmer than average last year

October 15, 2008

BURLINGTON, Vt.—The weather in Burlington was more than half a degree warmer than historical averages in 2007, which an environmental group and independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders say is more evidence of climate change.

Environment America, an affiliate of the United States Public Interest Research Group, collected weather data from 255 stations around the country for inclusion in its report "Feeling the Heat: Global Warming and Rising Temperatures in the United States".

It found Burlington's average 2007 temperature was 0.6 degrees Fahrenheit above its historical average. The report said global temperatures were tied for the second highest on record in 2007.

Sanders says the figures indicate global warming is happening faster than first projected.

State to study heating fuel market to help consumers

October 15, 2008

MONTPELIER — The Department of Public Service will spend $15,000 on a fuel study aimed at lowering heating costs for Vermont homeowners.

James Moore, with the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, lauded the study. Though he said he would have liked to see the department embark on the effort in advance of the recent spike in fuel prices, he called the expenditure a well-placed investment.

"The impression I get is this could be very limited resources very well spent," Moore said. "Vermonters are looking for ways to reduce their heating costs and their pollution, and this report could directly provide some useful information."

Anthony Pollina, running as an independent against Republican incumbent Gov. James Douglas, said the announcement smacked of election-eve campaign maneuvering. Unveiling a new plan for heating relief...

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Committee questions health officials on radiation

October 8, 2008

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP)--A legislative committee on Wednesday criticized the Vermont Health Department for reworking the way it measures radiation being emitted by the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant without first bringing the changes to the committee.

The Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules put the Health Department's radiological health chief in the hot seat over changes that have made it easier for Vermont Yankee to stay within state limits for radiation as measured at the plant boundary.

"It was not in the interest of public health," James Moore, energy advocate with the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, said of the changes. "It was in the interest of getting numbers that (Vermont Yankee owner) Entergy needed to keep operating."

With children attending the Vernon Elementary School just across the road from the nuclear plant, "The Department of Health should be going over the top to protect the public health," Moore added. "Instead they're headed starkly in the other direction."

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Vt. energy plan meets public opposition

October 1, 2008

MONTPELIER — Vermont's new energy plan, the draft of which was completed earlier this year during a sharp rise in fuel prices and which is designed to guide the state through an impending turbulent period for electricity supply, should be scrapped.

That was the message Tuesday from the heads of several environmental and progressive groups in Vermont.

A majority of Vermonters support industrial wind development, something that is not aggressively pushed for in the energy plan, said Paul Burns of VPIRG.

"This plan was supposed to take into consideration the public opinion of these issues," he said. The environmental groups said the proposed plan should be "returned to sender."

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Energy plan lacks details, environmental groups say

October 1, 2008

MONTPELIER — Several environmental groups came together Tuesday to criticize the Douglas administration’s draft long-term energy plan, saying it is too short on details and shows a lack of leadership.

“This plan demonstrates that the Douglas administration is asleep at the wheel as Vermont is careening off the cliff of high gas prices, high diesel prices and increasing pressures on the rural landscape,” said Chris Kilian, director of the Vermont office of the Conservation Law Foundation, which regularly does battle with the administration on environmental issues.

Instead of laying out a plan for increasing wind power, the plan takes a “weak-kneed approach,” said Paul Burns, executive director of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group. The report recommends the state “actively facilitate the review of local, Vermont-scale wind project development consistent with statutory framework.”

“That won’t generate enough electricity to turn on your Christmas bulbs in 10 years,” Burns said.

Rich Smith, deputy commissioner of the Department of Public Service, said the plan offers utilities...

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