Legislative Report 3/7/2022 - The war in Ukraine and our heating costs

 

Surely, we are all horrified by the devastation that is happening in Ukraine.  The uncalled-for war initiated by Vladimir Putin has outraged the world and resulted in a unified front against Russia in support of the Ukrainian people.  The strong economic sanctions are totally justified and must remain as long as Russian forces continue their assault and occupation.  We will have to stand firm regardless of the economic pain that the sanctions cause in the U.S. and among our allies in Europe and around the world, because that pain is nothing compared to the pain being visited on the people of Ukraine.

Om March 8 the Vermont House voted to send $643,077, which represents $1 for every Vermonter, plus $1,749 from sales of Russian-sourced liquor sold in Vermont  between February 24 and March 2 for humanitarian relief in Ukraine. In addition, many House members bought sunflowers, the Ukraine national flower, and displayed them at our desks.

 

One of the biggest effects in the U.S. is soaring oil prices which is driving already high inflation even higher. With gasoline topping $4 per gallon and heating oil not far behind, the remainder of the heating season as well as our daily commutes will be more costly than previously expected. The questions many are asking are “What can we do about it? How can I handle the added expense?”  These questions are at the forefront of policymakers in Montpelier as well. One thing we can do is help Vermonters reduce their dependence on fossil fuels.

 

The Governor has proposed, and the House Committee on Energy & Technology has recommended, that $80M be allocated for weatherizing 8,000 low-income and moderate-income residences between 2022 and 2026. Vermont homeowners and tenants with low incomes will be eligible for no-cost, comprehensive home weatherization services through Vermont’s Home Weatherization Assistance Program administered by the Office of Economic Opportunity and delivered through six Weatherization Assistance Providers. Weatherization of buildings with five or more units will be delivered through 3E Thermal, a team of consultants who help apartment building owners increase energy efficiency and improve building performance. Vermonters with a moderate income will be eligible to receive incentives through Efficiency Vermont and its network of contractors to support the cost of home weatherization. Weatherization will reduce the amount of fossil fuels needed for heating and thereby reduce the cost of heating.

 

In addition, $20 million in ARPA funds is recommended for low and moderate-income Vermonters to upgrade home electrical systems and install energy saving technologies such as cold-climate heat pumps in conjunction with weatherization. Another $5M is recommended to help approximately 3,000 low-income Vermonters that have a fossil fuel water heater at least 10 years old to replace it at low or no cost with a heat pump water heater to reduce their energy costs and emissions. These alternative heating appliances will further reduce dependence on fossil fuels and their associated cost.

 

While the situation in Ukraine was not a consideration when the Vermont Climate Council proposed a Clean Heat Standard, it may turn out to be an effective tool when combined with the state’s share of ARPA funds in counteracting the heating costs of Vermonters. By allowing clean heat measures like weatherization, heat pumps, and heat pump hot water heaters installed starting January 1, 2022, to create Clean Heat Credits, we can get a jump start on reducing emissions as well as costs of residential heating.  These credits will be readily available for purchase by fossil fuel dealers to meet their clean heat credit obligations which are expected to start in 2024. Or they can generate credits themselves by helping their customers transition to these clean heat measures.

 

We don’t know how long the war in Ukraine will continue, how the sanctions will affect Putin’s conduct, and what the outcome will be.  But fuel prices that were already high before the war will probably continue to be so. For every gallon of heating oil or gasoline we can avoid using, we will further insulate ourselves from the volatility of fossil fuel prices as well as reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

As always, I welcome your emails (myantachka.dfa@gmail.com) or phone calls (802-233-5238).  

Legislative Report 2/7/2022 - We can clean up our heating sources

 

It is very apparent by now that climate change is happening both locally and globally with rising average temperatures and devastating effects, including extraordinary wildfires, flooding, and other extreme weather events. In September 2020, the Vermont Legislature enacted the Global Warming Solutions Act (Act 153) that set greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets and created a Climate Council to develop a Climate Action Plan (CAP) to achieve those targets. The Climate Council published its report in December 2021, and in January the Legislature began working to implement it.

 

Transportation accounts for about 40% of GHG emissions in Vermont and heating accounts for about 34%.  Targeting these two energy-intensive sectors will give us the best chance of meeting the target of a 40% reduction from 1990 levels of GHG emissions by 2030. The House Energy and Technology Committee has started crafting legislation from some of the specific recommendations of the Climate Action Plan regarding heating, including a Municipal Energy Resilience Plan (bill H.518) and a Clean Heat Standard.

 

The Climate Council was careful to insist that whatever
measures were taken to reduce GHG emissions, that they be done in an equitable manner to prevent impacting those with the highest energy burden.  Energy burden is defined as the total household energy expenses for heating and electricity divided by household income. The highest energy burden is experienced by the 20% of Vermonters with the lowest income as shown in the accompanying chart. Energy burden profiles can also be associated geographically with the highest energy burdens occurring in rural communities because of increased transportation fuel costs.

 

Vermont’s cities, towns and villages own and maintain approximately 7,000 old buildings that are expensive to heat and have a large carbon footprint. To meet our climate goals and ease the energy burden on municipal budgets, H.518 will support communities with technical assistance, design support, and funding to make municipal assets more energy efficient and to displace fossil fuels with cleaner options. It will expand the State Energy Management Program to help municipalities finance improvements and assist municipal leaders, who may lack the technical expertise to assess the best investments to increase efficiency and resilience, with help from Efficiency VT and regional planning commissions.

 

With one-third of Vermont’s climate pollution coming primarily from fossil fuels used to heat our buildings and water, dependence on fossil fuels is expensive with unpredictable price swings for consumers. If you heat your home with oil or propane, you’re paying as much as 40% above last year’s prices. This creates an especially large energy burden for lower-income Vermonters. Unlike our highly regulated electric sector, which is subject to the renewable energy standard (RES), fossil fuel corporations are under no obligation to reduce the carbon pollution of their product. A Clean Heat Standard (CHS) would require fossil fuel corporations to provide cleaner heating fuel options and/or pay for pollution-reduction measures that benefit Vermonters. These include employing cleaner heating options, like heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, and advanced wood heat to displace fossil fuels, or supporting weatherization and efficiency measures. A CHS places the obligation of lowering emissions on fuel sellers while presenting Vermonters with choices on how and when to move to cleaner heat. To ensure equity in the application of the CHS we are considering various design options such as requiring a high fraction of credits to come from serving low- and moderate- income homes, providing extra credits for providing clean heat in rental housing, and making incentive payments income-sensitive. Without implementing a CHS, Vermont will not meet its emissions reduction requirements under the Global Warming Solutions Act.

 

As always, I welcome your emails (myantachka.dfa@gmail.com) or phone calls (802-233-5238).  

Legislative Report 1/9/2020 - Session Preview on Climate Action

The Vermont legislature convened in Montpelier this week for the second half of the biennium, i.e. the two-year legislative term between elections. Legislative work did not stop when the session adjourned in May. Off-session work includes constituent assistance as well as study committees, oversight committees and workgroups that meet either in official capacity or to prepare for the coming session. Some of our unfinished business from 2019 will be on the agenda early in the session, including increasing the minimum wage, establishing a paid family leave insurance program and creating a tax and regulate system for cannabis sales in Vermont. I’m also looking forward to working with my colleagues once more to take significant steps to address the climate crisis through Vermont’s energy policy.

Over the last two years more and more focus has been on what effects human consumption of fossil fuels has had on the global climate.  Extracting and burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas emit enormous amounts of CO₂, methane and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) which build up in the atmosphere and increase the average global temperature.  In recent years we have seen the effects in more intense hurricanes, heavier rainfall and flooding, more persistent heat waves, droughts, and wildfires in the west. Melting glaciers and icecaps have contributed to measurable sea level rise leading to “sunny day flooding” in some coastal communities. These effects drive costs higher for everyone, including Vermonters. Climate scientists have overwhelmingly concluded that we have only a limited amount of time to act decisively to limit global warming and its effects on our environment, health and economy.  Last year Vermonters have joined people all over the world in climate demonstrations demanding that governments do something about climate change.

Several years ago, a group of legislators from the House and Senate formed the Climate Solutions Caucus.  This group, now numbering more than 60 members, is committed to take meaningful steps to reduce Vermont’s contribution to the climate crisis.  The Paris Climate Accord of 2015 calls for a 50% reduction of GHG emissions from 1990 levels by 2028.  This goal was adopted by both the Shumlin and the Scott administrations. 

In contrast, however, Vermont’s emissions as measured by the Department of Environmental Conservation have instead risen by 16%. We have to bend that curve by addressing the biggest sources of GHGs in our economy: transportation and heating. This will help Vermonters save money by living in more efficient homes and driving more efficient vehicles.

While we took some steps in 2019 to help reduce Vermont’s emissions, including starting an EV incentive program, and increasing funding of low- and moderate-income residential weatherization, we know we have to do more. The Climate Caucus held several workgroup sessions over the summer to identify further steps we can take. Converting our renewable energy and energy transformation goals from the 2017 Comprehensive Energy Plan into statutory requirements by passing the Global Warming Solutions Act is the first step. To make our older housing stock more efficient for heating and cooling we’ll have to accelerate weatherization assistance to homeowners and landlords. Changing Efficiency Vermont’s mission to include using funds for moderate-income weatherization through the All Fuels Initiative will be part of the solution.

Transportation is the largest GHG contributor at 43% of emissions. We must continue to reduce transportation emissions by supporting EV purchases, electrification and expansion of mass transit options, expanding park-and-ride facilities, and promoting transportation alternatives like bicycling and walkways. We also know that Vermont can’t combat climate change alone. Alone our emissions are relatively small, but we have a responsibility to do our part. With the approval of Governor Scott, Vermont joined with 12 other eastern states from Maine to Virginia and the District of Columbia to consider a regional program to reduce GHG emissions from transportation.  This program, called the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI), would be a “cap and invest” system.  Details of the design were released this December and the legislature and administration will be working together to integrate this effort into Vermont policy. Reducing emissions will not only benefit the climate but will also reduce carcinogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and asthma aggravating particulates in the air we breathe.

I plan to write more about these actions in the future as they develop. I welcome your emails (myantachka.dfa@gmail.com), phone calls (802-233-5238), or in-person contacts.  

The Word in the House 4/25/2019 - Legislative Timeline Is Getting Short

The time has come where we’re nearing the end of the legislative session and work needs to be completed on bills if they have any chance of being enacted in this session. For the House, this includes many Senate bills now under consideration.  These include bills for taxing and regulating recreational cannabis sales (S.54), increasing the minimum wage (S.23), requiring a 24-hour waiting period for handgun sales (S.169), and raising the age for buying tobacco products to 21 (S.86).  House bills waiting for similar action in the Senate include broadband development, taxing e-cigarettes, increasing weatherization assistance, increasing child care assistance, and paid family leave, not to mention the major money bills for capital spending, fees, transportation and the budget. Bills that were not passed before crossover (March 15^th) can have a second chance if their provisions are added to a bill that was passed by the other body and deals with the same topic.

The cannabis tax-and-regulate bill is now assigned to the House Government Operations Committee. Recently, Governor Scott stated that he would not sign the bill if it didn’t allow for roadside saliva sampling for THC levels.  The Senate did not include such testing because of the concerns that the results do not conclusively indicate impairment and because saliva testing impacts privacy. The House Judiciary Committee has been asked to review the appropriateness of including saliva testing before Gov Ops bring the bill to the floor for a vote.

The imposition of a 24-hour waiting period for handgun sales is also in House Judiciary.  About half of suicides are by gun and result in fatality 90% of the time compared to other methods.  Failed suicides by other means allow a victim to get counseling and treatment. A 24-hour delay can short-circuit an impulsive act that is irreversible. This bill passed the Senate as a compromise from the first draft requiring a 72-hour waiting period. Concerns about how a longer waiting period would impact gun shows led to the compromise since gun shows are usually held on weekends. One possible amendment being considered is to include long guns (rifles) in the waiting period.

Raising the age to purchase tobacco products to 21 has been passed by the House in previous years only to die in the Senate.  This year the Senate passed a Tobacco-21 bill and sent it to the House. A lot of progress has been made over the years in reducing smoking, especially among our youth. However, with the advent of vaping, addiction to nicotine is on the rise not only in high school but even in middle school. Raising the age for tobacco products would also apply to e-cigarettes and accessories. There is a long list of supporters of this bill, including the leadership of the Vermont National Guard, and the bill is likely to pass on a floor vote.

The House Energy and Technology Committee has possession of Senate bill S.95 which will allow municipal electric utilities like Washington Electric Co-op or the Stowe Town Electric Department to borrow amounts up to 50% of their assets without requiring a vote of their members. This provides our committee an opportunity to add language that will increase the allowable net metering capacity for school districts that have merged from 500 kW to 1,000 kW. This will provide merged school districts the ability to offset a greater amount of their electrical needs with renewable energy while saving taxpayers money.

And a quick note on the weatherization bill that would raise heating fuel prices by 2 cents per gallon. The Senate considers the fuel tax increase too onerous and is considering raising money for low-income weatherization another way.  Meanwhile, fuel oil prices went up 5 cents per gallon in the past month, two and a half times the fuel tax increase, and Vermonters are not getting any additional benefit from it. Did anyone notice? Just sayin’.

I welcome your emails (myantachka.dfa@gmail.com) or phone calls (802-233-5238).  

Legislative Report 2/6/2019 - Decarbonization: Options for Climate Change Action

The 2019 State Budget passed last June included money for a study on the costs and benefits of various options to reduce Vermont's carbon emissions in response to climate change. Vermont has several targets for greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction that have been set during the Douglas, Shumlin and Scott administrations. In 2005 Vermont passed a law setting a target of 37% reduction from 1990 levels by 2012. In 2015 Vermont joined the conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers in setting a target of reducing regional GHGs by 45% from 2005 levels by 2030. In 2017 Governor Scott joined the U.S. Climate Alliance which set a taget of GHG reduction of 26% below 2005 levels by 2025. A report from the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation released last July showed that Vermont's GHG emissions are currently 16% above 1990 levels, mainly due to transportation and heating. Our electric generation emissions, however, have decreased extensively to the point that they are now about 60% carbon-free and will improve even more in years to come. Transforming our energy use from fossil fuels to electricity will reduce total GHG emissions.

Vermont's Joint Fiscal Office commissioned the firm Resources for the Future (RFF), a non-profit research institution in Washington, DC, to conduct the study. RFF looked at four options: the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) cap-and-trade system, the ESSEX Plan introduced in Vermont last year ($.05/gallon to $.40/g after 8 years), a medium carbon pricing plan ($.30/g to $.50/g by 2030), and a high carbon pricing plan ($.60/g to $1.00/g by 2030). All of the options were assumed to be revenue neutral in their model, that is, all revenues would be returned to taxpayers either through a dividend or through tax relief. Their models took into account the cost/benefit to consumers, the cost to business, estimates of carbon reduction, and the net benefits of revenue allocation and associated health benefits. The impact on consumers was also differentiated by income and geography.

A major conclusion of the study is that transportation and heating fuel uses are relatively insensitive to moderate changes in pricing. People changed their driving habits and paid more attention to their thermostats when fuel was close to $4.00/gallon a couple of years ago. Last year's increase of $.50/gallon for gasoline back in May did little to change driving habits; most people just absorbed the increase. The conclusion was that carbon pricing alone at the levels being considered would not be enough to reduce emissions. However, if carbon pricing were combined with non-pricing policies such as financial assistance for weatherizing homes and incentives for purchasing electric vehicles (used and new), then the targets were achievable.

None of the options would negatively affect Vermont's economy more than a few tenths of a percent overall. However, fuel-intensive businesses would suffer reductions while service related businesses would grow. The economic welfare of families varied by income under all the plans with the lowest 40% benefiting (60% for the ESSEX Plan) and the upper 40% of income earners losing from $15 to $250 per year. Urban dwellers would also be better off than rural folks.

The study looked at carbon pricing in Vermont alone, not at a regional level. Governor Scott has agreed to join other New England and Mid-Atlantic states in studying a regional cap-and-trade plan called the Transportation Climate Initiative. The plan will be designed by the end of the year, after which Vermont can decide whether to join TCI. Scott also has included some money for weatherization and electric vehicle rebates in his 2020 budget. It is imperative that we take concrete steps sooner than later to drive down GHG emissions in Vermont because it will only get more expensive the longer we wait.

I welcome your emails (myantachka.dfa@gmail.com), phone calls (802-233-5238), or in person contacts.

Legislative Report 1/24/2018 - A Practical Approach to Pricing Carbon Pollution

Most people recognize that climate change is happening, that it is caused by burning fossil fuels, and that it has serious environmental and health consequences. The challenge to our generation is how to counter the trend of increasing concentrations of CO₂ and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere. The most obvious action is to reduce our consumption of fossil fuels.

Our economy and lifestyle depends heavily on fossil fuels for electricity, heating and transportation. We successfully continue to transform our electric generation to renewable, clean sources, making Vermont's electric supply among the cleanest in the country while keeping our electric rates the second lowest in New England. However, despite our goal of reducing Vermont's GHG emissions by 25% compared to 1990 levels, our GHG levels have instead increased by 4%. We cannot be successful unless we address fossil fuel consumption in heating and transportation.

A proposal currently being considered called the ESSEX Plan, an Economy Strengthening Strategic Energy EXchange, was developed by a group of environmental advocates, business people and legislators over the last summer and has been introduced as Senate bill S.284. The goal of the plan is to move dependence on dirty fossil fuels to Vermont's clean electric energy by discouraging use of fossil fuels and encouraging a transition to electricity for heating and transportation. Here is how the plan works.

The EPA during the Obama administration calculated the “social cost of carbon pollution” to health and the economy to be $40/ton. Based on this number the plan starts at $5/ton of CO₂ (5 cents/gallon) and rises steadily to $40/ton (40 cents/gallon) over an 8 year period. The revenue generated goes back to Vermonters in the form of a rebate on electric bills. About $30M would be raised the first year and grows to $240M when the price tops out in eight years. This money would go into a special fund which would be drawn on for the rebates. Each month the amount collected would be allocated to each utility based on its electricity consumed for that month. That share would then be allocated based on whether the revenues came from the commercial, industrial or residential side of fossil fuel consumption. The rebates would be based on the amount of a customer's electricity usage. The revenues from the commercial and industrial customers would be rebated to them. The revenues from the residential customers would be divided based on income and geography.

Of the residential revenue 50% would be rebated to all residential customers, 25% would be rebated to customers in rural areas, and another 25% would be rebated to low income customers. Low income Vermonters in rural areas would get both bonus rebates. This formula is in recognition that Vermont is a rural state that requires longer commutes for rural residents and that low income residents pay a proportionally higher share of their income on energy costs. This strategy should encourage Vermonters to use less fossil fuel by transitioning to technologies like cold climate heat pumps, electric vehicles, mass transit, carpools and other strategies to reduce their carbon footprint.

So, how does this strengthen the state's economy? First of all, it makes Vermont more affordable. While electric rates themselves won't be affected, the carbon rebates, itemized on consumers' electric bills, will significantly decrease the net cost of electricity. Vermont's already low rates relative to our neighboring states will be even more attractive to businesses. Secondly, Vermont is not a source of fossil fuels, so 80 cents of every dollar spent on fossil fuels leaves Vermont. On the other hand, Vermont's electricity is increasingly sourced within the state or region, keeping millions of dollars of energy spending in Vermont. Third, transitioning from fossil fuels to electricity will add more well-paying green jobs to the 17,500 already created in Vermont. Finally, we are not alone. Vermont's New England neighbors and New York are poised to introduce their own carbon pricing legislation in the coming weeks making this a regional effort.

This method of carbon pricing is innovative and environmentally and economically beneficial. I look forward to a productive dialog about this plan and will host an informational forum on the topic at the Charlotte Senior Center on February 12 at 7:00 PM. I hope to see you there.

As always, I can be reached by phone (802-233-5238) or by email (myantachka.dfa@gmail.com).

The Word in the House 2/29/2016 - Divestment, Voting and Protection

As I write this the weekend before Town Meeting, I’m looking forward to one of the great New England traditions where voters can get together in an exercise of direct democracy to make decisions affecting their local government. It gives me a chance to talk to constituents and find out what’s on their minds and get some idea of whether I am doing my job properly in Montpelier.

Last week saw passage of several bills as well as a resolution on fossil fuel divestment in the Vermont House. The resolution, HR.13, calls on the State Treasurer working with the Vermont Pension Investment Committee (VPIC) to eliminate coal and ExxonMobil stockholdings from Vermont’s pension funds. The rationale for the measure included recognition that: climate change due to human consumption of fossil fuels is real and has significant negative consequences for our environment; given the recent bankruptcy of America’s largest coal company and efforts around the globe to curtail use of coal, investments in fossil fuels pose a threat to Vermont’s pension funds; and ExxonMobil specifically has been documented to have misled the public and its investors and funded climate change denial despite having evidence to the contrary from its own scientists. While it encourages divestment, it also recognizes that the pensions belong to the employees whose money is invested and that they, through the VPIC, have the ultimate responsibility to divest while taking care to invest wisely. The resolution passed on a vote of 76 to 57.

On the same day that the resolution was voted on, a bill that changes the “motor-voter” law, that is, the ability to register to vote when applying for a driver’s license, was passed. Today the applicant must choose to register on the form. This bill, H.458, now provides that the default is to submit a voter registration application unless the applicant chooses otherwise. Of course, the applicant must fulfill the requirements of U.S. citizenship, be a resident of Vermont, have taken or self-administered the Voter’s Oath, and attest to the veracity of this information on the form. While many other states continue to restrict voting privileges by erecting roadblocks to registration, Vermont continues to embrace the right of every citizen to vote and encourage them to do so. This bill passed on a voice vote.

Another important bill that passed was H.749, which allows a friend to file a relief from abuse request for a minor or for a person who lacks capacity to protect his or her interests due to psychiatric, intellectual, or developmental disability. It also allows a minor who is at least 16 years old to file a request on their own behalf if they are currently or were previously engaged in a sexual or dating relationship with the defendant. This provides a measure of protection for young people and vulnerable adults who are in a recognizably abusive relationship and may be reluctant to file the request themselves. This bill also passed on a voice vote. H.749 as well as H.458 will now be considered by the Senate.

I welcome your thoughts and can be reached by phone (802-233-5238) or by email (myantachka.dfa@gmail.com).