It’s been one year since Gov. Phil Scott established his hand-picked Climate Action Commission. This anniversary follows on the heels of the release of the most recent Vermont Greenhouse Gas Inventory report two weeks ago — a sobering report detailing how Vermont climate progress is accelerating in the wrong direction, with…
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On July 5th, while Vermonters were suffering through a deadly heatwave, Vermont’s Department of Environmental Conservation released the latest Vermont Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory — and it’s scary stuff. Detailing Vermont’s greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution from 1990-2015, this report highlights a troubling trend: Vermont’s climate pollution is up 16% from 1990…
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Earlier today, VPIRG stood alongside business owners and environmentalists in the kick off for the Straws Upon Request Pledge, a statewide campaign aimed at reducing the number of single-use plastic straws used and thrown away in Vermont. The idea is pretty simple: businesses that take the pledge will make straws…
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Around this time last year, Governor Phil Scott stood in front of reporters, TV cameras and other onlookers on the waterfront in Burlington to reiterate his alleged support of Vermont’s climate commitments and the Paris Climate Accord, and to announce the creation of the Vermont Climate Pledge Coalition, a voluntary…
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Over the past year, VPIRG has been working to ensure that the $18.7 million Vermont will be receiving as part of the settlement on the Volkswagen emissions cheating scandal. Last week, that work started to pay off. After the Scott Administration, and Governor Scott himself, made clear that they intended…
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For more than two decades, we’ve been working to end the giveaway of millions of dollars in unclaimed bottle deposits to the beverage industry and put that money to work for Vermonters. Last night, the governor signed S.285, which finally reclaims the deposits and uses the money to help clean…
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On May 22nd, Gov. Scott signed H.410 – legislation that expands Vermont’s appliance efficiency standards. Gov. Scott listened to the voices of Vermonters, as well as the vast majority of the Vermont House of Representatives and State Senate, which passed the bill on tri-partisan votes of 137-4 and 25-4, respectively.…
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(Update 5/24/18): In yet another shameful display of putting corporate polluters ahead of Vermonters’ best interests, Gov. Scott vetoed S.197 – legislation that would have provided a modest step towards justice for Vermonters harmed by toxic chemical exposure by providing medical monitoring at the polluting entity’s expense. “The governor’s veto…
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Updated (5/29/18): Last week, Gov. Scott signed H.739 into law. Earlier today, the House and Senate passed H.739, a bill that creates a three year pilot program to give Efficiency Vermont more flexibility in working with some of the largest businesses in the state on custom efficiency and energy saving…
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All session long, VPIRG and our members have been advocating for H.764 – better known as the Data Broker Bill. Data brokers are third party companies (like Equifax) that buy and sell your personal information without your knowledge. You don’t interact with these companies and would probably be surprised to…
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