Toxics & Environmental Health

2023 Legislative Recap

The 2023 Vermont legislative session has come to a close, marking the halfway point of the 2023-2024 biennium. The VPIRG team secured a number of significant legislative victories – shepherding some landmark public interest policies into law, while making important progress on other bills that will need to brought across the finish line in 2024. …

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2023 Mid Session Legislative Update

We are officially halfway through the 2023 legislative session, with both legislative and money crossover dates in the rear-view mirror. Our VPIRG team has been hard at work over the past few months pushing for common sense policies, from Bottle Bill modernization to ranked choice voting, and we’ve made great progress, thanks in large part …

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Key Committee Advances Bill to Protect Vermonters from PFAS and Other Toxic Chemicals

On Friday, the Vermont Senate Committee on Health and Welfare unanimously passed legislation (S.25) to ban PFAS and other toxic chemicals from products including personal care products, textiles, and artificial turf fields. The bill is supported by Vermont small businesses, public health and children’s advocates, and environmental groups. It now heads to the full Senate …

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REI Announces It Will Ban PFAS In All Textiles

New commitment follows nationwide campaign and state regulatory actions On February 21st, leading outdoor retailer REI announced it will ban PFAS “forever chemicals” (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances) in all textile products and cookware from its suppliers, in a major update to its “Product Impact Standards” for its 1,000+ brand partners. REI’s restrictions take effect in the fall of 2024 for cookware …

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2022 VT Legislative Session Recap

We’ve recently wrapped up a busy, successful – and, in some cases, challenging – legislative session. VPIRG members helped win some exciting victories on environmental justice, getting mercury out of lighting in Vermont, a record-setting $200 million for climate action in the budget, and more! But we also faced some disappointments–falling just short in our …

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VT Senate advances environmental justice

The State Senate just took a major step towards environmental justice (EJ) in Vermont. S.148, which would be the state’s first environmental justice law, passed Tuesday on an overwhelming, tri-partisan 28-1 vote.   We at VPIRG have joined dozens of groups supporting this bill because we see it as an essential step to bring more communities …

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2022 Mid-Session Legislative Update

We’re halfway through the 2022 legislative session in Vermont, and though our work continues to look a little different due to the ongoing pandemic, we have made significant progress across the board on our legislative priorities. From the continuing fight for Bottle Bill modernization to advancing a landmark climate legislation, read on to see where …

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Press Release: VT on track to ban CFLs

Vermont is on track to become the first state in the nation to ban the sale of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) after the lighting industry conceded to state officials that better, mercury-free alternatives are now widely available. Attention now turns to the wide variety of other mercury-containing fluorescent lighting still being sold for residential and …

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