Climate, Energy & the Environment: Commentaries

Market based solutions are the only ones which can affordably conserve Vermont's environment, combat climate change and provide safe, reliable energy to all Vermont households.

"We still face significant conservation challenges, but in the century since Teddy Roosevelt... we’ve written a conservation story worth telling... I am optimistic about our environment and the ability of humankind to invent, collaborate, and innovate our way to conservation solutions. For the doubters and worriers, there’s one more reason to stop and smile at the state of our environment: Optimists live longer. And that means more time for all of us to enjoy our natural world."

-Brian Yablonski, Property & Environment Research Center


All Commentaries



Commentary: Vermont’s Windmill-tilting Climate Action Plan

The Perfect Little Climate Conscious State now has its own Perfect Little Climate Action Plan.  Although the Climate Action Plan won’t have any impact on climate, it will have an ... Read more







Commentary: Marketing the Climate Catastrophe Narrative

At the VPIRG 50th anniversary celebration last week Climatologist Katharine Hayhoe explained how to sell the climate catastrophe narrative... Read more





Commentary: The Climate Council’s “Carbon Tax PLUS” Agenda for Vermont

As gasoline prices hover around record highs, putting tremendous pressure on family budgets, stressing businesses, and making life generally more expensive, the Vermont Climate Co... Read more





Commentary: Bad policy begets worse, repealing the GWSA is the solution

One signature and one vote thwarted the attempt to upend heating in Vermont's built environment. Governor Phil Scott won the game of political ping pong against the Legislature, w... Read more



Commentary: Heating Fuel Tax Dead – for Now

On May 11 the short life of the Clean Heat Standard (CHS), promising “clean heat for a cooler planet”, came to sudden but probably not final end.

Read more



Commentary: Nuclear Power Revival

The growing reawakening of enthusiasm for nuclear powered electricity has been a remarkable development over the past ten years.

For decades enviros of various stripes have ... Read more



Commentary: Clean Heat Standard Greatens Carbon Emissions and Class Divide

The Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA) requires Vermont to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by specific amounts by 2025, 2030, and 2050. Failure to meet these mandatory ... Read more



Commentary: Questioning Blind EV Advocacy

Governor Gavin Newsom recently ordered the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to ban the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035. Since the 1990s, 16 states have adopted CARB... Read more



Commentary: Successful Energy Transitions are Facilitated, Not Forced

Governor Gavin Newsom recently ordered the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to ban the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035. Since the 1990s, sixteen states including Ve... Read more



Commentary: Climate Plan Is All Pain, No Gain

The Executive Director of the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association testified before the House Energy & Technology Committee that if the “Clean Heat Standard” currently being conte... Read more



Commentary: Here Comes Another Carbon Tax

Are you ready for the coming carbon tax on your home and business heating bill?

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Commentary: Clean Heat Standard Is a Stealth Carbon Tax on Heating Fuel

A key component of the Climate Action Plan just put forward by the Vermont Climate Council is a thing they’re calling “The Clean Heat Standard.” This is a convoluted scheme that i... Read more



Commentary: Vermont’s Four Plans to Defeat Climate Change

Since 2014 the climate change activists have created four public policy plans to achieve their objectives. Plan A – the carbon tax - bit the dust in 2018. Plan B –TCI – has ju... Read more





Commentary: A Capitalist Success Story

            Here’s a tale of two savvy young men from Vermont who hit the jackpot by selling their startup company to a larger one for $40 million. 

           Read more





Commentary: Climate Council Wants “A River of Money”

The Vermont Climate Council, charged with coming up with a plan to reduce Vermont’s greenhouse gas emissions to 26% below 2005Read more





Commentary: GWSA may stop REC Cash Flow, but not our Natural Gas Reliance

For several years, Vermont has made millions selling Renewable Energy Credits (REC’s) to other states. But the 2020 Global Warming Solutions Act will soon cut off this cash flow w... Read more



Commentary: The “Thermal Energy Efficiency” Tax

For five years now the climate change movement couldn’t get a vote on a politically dangerous carbon tax to reduce fossil fuel consumption, and produ... Read more





Commentary: Candid Comments Reveal Illogic Behind Vermont’s Climate Policy

Responding to an email inquiry from a concerned citizen about the real impact – and cost -- of the Global Warming Solutions Act, passed Read more





Commentary: Meet Your New Climate Government

Meet Your new Climate Government:  The Global Warming Solutions Act, enacted over Gov. Scott’s veto, establishes a 23-member Vermont Climate Council ... Read more



Commentary: TCI Looks DOA

The Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI), referring to the organization itself rather than the policy, has put off publication of their final proposal Read more



Commentary: Renewable Energy and Blackouts

California has just suffered electrical blackouts affecting over 200,000 people, and there will be more to come on hot summer evenings. Why? Because California has become infa... Read more



Commentary: Candidate Questions for 2020

Here are 16 incisive questions, fairly stated, to put to your candidate for the legislature, Governor and Lt. Governor. Voters deserve to know what they’ll get by giving thei... Read more



Commentary: Global Warming Solutions Act Needs a Scott Veto

The GWSA is likely to land on Gov. Scott’s desk at the end of August. There are five reasons why it deserves his veto. “He can take his stand on the liberties and economic wel... Read more



Commentary: The Final Push for GWSA

The Senate may be about ready to vote on the Global-Warming Solutions Act (H.688). The bill, heavily promoted by the Energy Action Network, would create a counterfeit governme... Read more



Commentary: Scrap the “Common Property Amendment"

Proposal 9 declares that the people have a right to a clean environment and gives the green light to the Conservation Law Foundation to sue to get it. The state’s natural reso... Read more



Commentary: Act 250 and the Perfect Climate Conscious State

On its 50th anniversary Vermont’s Act 250 is being updated to propel the people of the state into the new era of menacing climate change. The new bill tightens the regulatory ... Read more



Commentary: The Legislature’s New Climate-Driven Priorities

The 2020 legislature is racing ahead on a new course: pushing forward with three sweeping measures to defeat the Menace of Climate Change: Transportation and Climate Initiativ... Read more



Commentary: GWSA: The Worst Democracy-Shredding Bill in Fifty Years

The Global Warming solutions Act (H.688) purports to combat the Menace of Climate Change by authorizing unaccountable bureaucrats to regulate any and everything to reduce car... Read more



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