News and Updates

New Program Funds Community Weatherization & Cleaner Heat for Vermont Communities

Climate & Energy, Efficiency & Electrification, Heat Clean, News and Updates / By

Vermont communities interested in reducing their energy bills and cutting climate pollution have something to celebrate. H.518, the Municipal Energy Resilience Initiatives bill is now law, setting the stage for $45 million in federal Covid-19 relief dollars to flow to municipalities for investments in weatherization, switching to super-efficient cold climate heat pumps or other clean …

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Environmental Groups Celebrate the Legislature’s Unprecedented Climate Investments in FY23 Budget

Climate & Energy, News and Updates, Press Releases / By

Significant Dollars in Diverse, Needed Programs Provide a Foundation Upon Which to Build The Vermont Legislature crafted and Governor Phil Scott recently signed the FY23 budget, H.740, committing to unprecedented investments in climate action and resilience and setting the stage to help Vermonters reduce their energy costs, their reliance on expensive and polluting fossil fuels, …

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New Program Creates Cost- and Carbon-Cutting Opportunities for Vermont Municipalities

Climate & Energy, News and Updates, Press Releases / By

The Legislature crafted and yesterday Governor Phil Scott signed H.518, the Municipal Energy Resilience Initiatives Bill into law, setting the stage for $45 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds to support municipalities with technical assistance, energy assessments and municipal weatherization, fuel switching and other potential cost- and carbon-cutting …

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Community Leaders Hail Enactment of VT’s First Environmental Justice Law

Climate & Energy, News and Updates, Press Releases, Racial Justice / By

Will address environmental harms disproportionately affecting many communities A diverse coalition of environmental justice leaders celebrated the enactment of the state’s first-ever environmental justice law, which earned Vermont Governor Phil Scott’s signature on Tuesday. The bill, S.148, passed with strong tri-partisan supermajorities in both chambers of the legislature before arriving at his desk. This law …

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VPIRG at 50: Reflecting on our GMO Labeling Campaign

Consumer Protection, GMOs, News and Updates / By

Falko Schilling, here. In addition to being the Advocacy Director at ACLU of Vermont I’m a current VPIREF trustee and former VPIRG staff member. Throughout its history, VPIRG has been a bold leader in consumer protection issues, advocating for Vermonters to have a right to know what’s in the products they consume and watchdogging potentially …

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2022 VT Legislative Session Recap

Climate & Energy, Consumer Protection, Elections and Government Reform, Health Care, News and Updates, Toxics & Environmental Health, Victories, Zero Waste / By

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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Don’t Let Gov. Scott Sink the Environmental Justice Bill

Climate & Energy, News and Updates, Racial Justice / By

We recently heard that Governor Phil Scott is considering vetoing the environmental justice bill, S.148, which passed with overwhelming tri-partisan support in both the Senate (28-1) and House (109-31). In this last week of the legislative session, and with reports that they will not hold a session where they could override his veto, he can enact …

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Senate Backs Legislation to Modernize Bottle Bill

Bottle Bill, News and Updates, Press Releases, Zero Waste / By

The Vermont state Senate gave its final approval today to legislation that would update and substantially expand the scope of the state’s beverage redemption program, commonly known as the Bottle Bill. The vote in favor of H.175 was 17-13 and the bill now must return to the House for possible concurrence before it can go …

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