Former VPIRG Trustee and current Assistant Research Professor at the UVM, Richard Watts, Ph.D., blogs from the Federal Court House in New York City. Read more at http://richard-watts.blogspot.com/.
The Board of Directors of Washington Electric Cooperative, voted on January 9, 2013 to oppose a moratorium on wind development in Vermont stating, “It would be a serious, regressive and damaging mistake to enact an arbitrary moratorium, or to set conditions whose apparent intent is to make sure no wind projects can get built. Climate change is already affecting us, as Vermonters, and as utilities responsible for reliable delivery of power.”
A proposed three-year moratorium on renewable wind energy development in Vermont was roundly criticized today by some of Vermont’s leading environmental organizations, including the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, Conservation Law Foundation, 350Vermont, Sierra Club Vermont Chapter, Vermont Natural Resources Council, Citizens Awareness Network, National Wildlife Federation’s Northeast Regional Center, and the Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance
Health Care | Environmental Health | Clean Energy Democracy | Consumer Protection (Click one of these categories to skip to a specific section.) Health Care Health Care for All, and Keeping Our Eyes on the Prize For years, Vermont has been a leader in making health care accessible and affordable. Our long term goal is a …
Clean Heat is a Win-Win In 2008, Vermont set a goal of weatherizing 80,000 homes by 2020. But having failed to make the investment necessary to reach that goal, our state today is on a path to fall woefully short on weatherization. To make matters worse, the rising price of fossil fuels means the typical …
For Immediate Release: January 2, 2013 MONTPELIER, VT – Today President Obama will sign into law a bill that extends key tax credits for wind power and averts the ‘fiscal cliff.’ The main federal incentives for wind power – the renewable energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) and the offshore wind Investment Tax Credit (ITC) – …
President Obama, Congress Save Wind Power in Fiscal Cliff Agreement Read More »
Inspired by the work of Bill McKibben and 350.org, and in response to the overwhelming devastation brought on by global warming as highlighted by Super Storm Sandy and Tropical Storm Irene, VPIRG has officially begun a campaign aimed at divesting the Vermont State Pension Funds from fossil fuel companies. Working in collaboration with student groups …
VPIRG Calls on State to Divest from Fossil Fuels Read More »
Three months after a plan to switch much of Montpelier’s downtown from oil to wood heat got a new lease on life, the Montpelier City Council cast a final vote on the project last night. Up for debate was whether to pump the extra heat from an upgraded wood fired boiler run by the state to Montpelier’s municipal buildings and local businesses. The City Council’s decision to build the full project rather than a shorter line that wouldn’t reach the business district or municipal buildings was well received by the attending crowd.
In August, the Montpelier City Council approved an initial leg of the District Heat project while getting bids for remaining connections, which would include Union Elementary School and City Hall. Since then, city staff members are hard at work enlisting business customers needed to make this renewable heating project work even better. On Wednesday, November …
Sunday’s VT Environmental Summit, co-hosted with Toxics Action Center, was a real highlight of my time working with VPIRG so far. Over 75 people joined us at Vermont Technical College to spend a day meeting new people, learning more about the issues we all care about and how we can make the biggest impact working …
