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, when the latter failed to override his veto of the Clean Heat Standard (CHS) bill by one vote.
After the horrific Uvalde school shootings, many Americans are asking themselves if they are at greater risk of being killed by homicidal maniacs with guns than the rest of the Western world.
Drew Cline of the Josiah Bartlett Center reports how the New Hampshire legislature passed a recycling advancement bill over green objections. He writes “Companies they think they have a breakthrough concept: chemical, or advanced, recycling. It has the potential to increase plastics recycling and decrease solid waste. Naturally, environmental activist groups hate it.”
The attempt to upend heating in Vermont's built environment collapsed this legislative session.
The Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI-P), a stealth carbon tax on gasoline and diesel, died last December when the only three states that originally agreed to participate all backed out. That was one down. The Clean Heat Standard (CHS), a stealth carbon tax on propane, natural gas, kerosene, and heating oil was just successfully vetoed by Governor Scott. That’s two. The next piece of the Global Warming Solutions Act up for consideration is Vermont participation in the California Clean Car & Clean Truck Standards – an ultimate ban on internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.
An unforced error is when a politician volunteers or says something stupid and/or politically harmful without realizing its effects. President Biden offered an excellent example of an unforced error when last month when he announced formation of a Disinformation Governance Board, and dispatched Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to build support for it.
The New York Energy and Climate Advocates put out a press release on April 15 that should be of some interest. “As New York’s Climate Action Council conducts public hearings on how to meet the goals of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, climate scientist and former director of NASA’s Goddard Institute Dr. James E. Hansen, labor representatives, community leaders, and engineers called for a bold and inclusive climate strategy, embracing both renewables and zero-carbon nuclear.”