For the past two month my committee, the House Energy & Technology Committee, has been taking testimony on and debating a bill to establish a program called the “Clean Heat Standard” (CHS). The CHS is part of the Climate Action Plan put forward by the Climate Council under the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA).

In a nutshell, the CHS is designed to drive up the cost of fossil home heating fuels (oil, propane, natural gas, and kerosene) by forcing distributors to purchase “credits” to offset their products’ greenhouse gas emissions. These credits would be created by other businesses (or the dealers themselves, though for many this is not a realistic option) by installing cold climate heat pumps, getting customers to switch from oil to biofuel, weatherizing buildings, etc. Once the credits are created, the businesses that created them can sell them to the fuel dealers who by law need them.

To the Vermont Climate Council:

"We the undersigned members of the Vermont House of Representatives and Senate are writing to register our opposition to Vermont joining the Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI), which we understand you intend to recommend as part of your Climate Action Plan.

Dear Constituents,

I just wanted to give you all a heads up that the Vermont Climate Council, the board charged with coming up with a plan to reduce Vermont’s greenhouse gas emissions per the Global Warming Solutions Act, is holding events over the next couple of weeks to gather public input. The closest physical meeting to our district will take place this Wednesday, September 22, 5:00-7:00pm: Emerald Lake State Park Pavilion, 65 Emerald Lake Ln in East Dorset. Virtual events via Zoom will happen on September 30^th and October 6^th for general population, and on October 5^th for BIPOC communities only, all at 7:30 pm.