At the October 19 meeting of the Vermont Climate Council, Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Public Service and Council member June Tierney made a frightening – and honest – assessment of the proposals the Council is preparing to unleash in December: “I don’t think Vermonters understand the Mack truck that’s coming at them when you start matching up resources to priorities this plan is going to embody. I just don’t think they understand how this is going to impact their lives and what it’s going to cost.”

Indeed. The cost of this thing is going to be staggering in terms of direct taxes, such as the $20 million plus TCI carbon tax on gasoline and diesel, regulatory compliance costs, such as the mandates for all home and business owners to replace all of their fossil fuel systems for cooking, water and space heating and replace them with electric, the forced higher costs for renewable energy, the indirect higher costs of goods, services and housing that will result, and significant job losses across multiple industries that will occur directly and indirectly as a result of these policies.  

Tierney’s statement came during a discussion about public outreach and feedback the Council has received, which has mostly been orchestrated by activist groups such as 350 Vermont and VPIRG. Another Council member worried that they were operating “inside a bubble,” and Annette Smith, a member of the public and executive director of Vermonters for a Clean Environment commented that from her perspective the Council was in a “feedback loop” that failed to ascertain a truly accurate picture of what Vermonters really think about all this.

But, to some extent the Council can be forgiven, because they are just doing what Vermont’s Far Left legislature ordered them to do. As Tierney also said, “Just because the legislature writes a statute that assigns us an impossible task it doesn’t mean we’re going to get that impossible task done and do it well…. [But] that’s what the legislature has assigned to us, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

In case you’re wondering, this is who voted for the Global Warming Solutions Mack Truck that’s speeding right at you…

Senate Overrides Gov. Scott’s Veto of the Global Warming Solutions Act, 22-8, 2020

House Overrides Gov. Scott’s Veto of the Global Warming Solutions Act, 103-47, 2020

Correction: An earlier version of the post named Annette Smith as "president" of Vermonters for a Clean Environment. Her correct title is "executive director."