Hold On, I Need More Data

Yesterday, the House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee passed H.125, an act relating to reporting on the energy transition, on a 5-3-1 vote. It is now on the House floor for further action. This bill requires the Secretary of Natural Resources to compile a long laundry list of data with pretty charts to help the committee understand the economic impacts of the energy transition.

The Global Warming Solutions Act and its companion bills have been regressive policies that harm Vermonters. We’ve seen this with comments on the Governor’s veto as each of these bills was passed and then overridden. We’ve seen it with testimony from fuel dealers when Act 18, the (un)Affordable Heat Act bill, was in committee. We saw it again in the final report mandated by Act 18. Earlier this week, Vermonters turned out in force for a Repeal Act 18 rally at the State House. We’ve seen the PUC say that the Renewable Energy Standard raises rates for Vermonters. We’ve seen the PUC say the Clean Heat Standard is not suitable for Vermont.

Numerous bills have been introduced this session to fix the damage caused by these laws. H.16 seeks to repeal the Affordable Heat Act. H.52 seeks to revise the Global Warming Solutions Act and change mandates to goals. H.62 is similar and seeks to abolish the Vermont Climate Council. H.65 seeks to break Vermont from California’s electric vehicle mandate. H.159 seeks to repeal the Renewable Energy Standard. H.289, supported by Governor Scott, seeks to add nuclear power to Vermont’s acceptable energy sources and eliminate the GWSA mandates. All of these bills were introduced by Republicans. None of these bills made it off the wall of the House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee. Instead, they demand more data—because they don’t like the data they already have.

The answer is clear: we need to challenge Representative James, Chair of the House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee, and Representative Siblia, the Ranking Member, with strong candidates in the next election. It’s the only way they will listen.