Here’s an interesting letter that appeared in the Caledonian Record a week ago, from a man who I don’t know,  Jonathan Baker of Danville. He writes this from his own experience

Senator Chris Bray, Democrat of Addison, is chair of the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee. It’s the body – composed of five willing Democrats and no skeptical Republicans – that has generated the Affordable Heat Act, so I pay attention to what he says.

Here are twelve salient questions and straightforward answers about the workings of the Affordable Heat Act (S.5) now moving toward the Senate floor.

It turns out the real long-term cost of The Affordable Heat Act, S.5, proposed by the Natural Resources and Energy Committee is $5 billion dollars over a 5-year period as demonstrated in a detailed financial analysis by the Ethan Allen Institute.  Most of that cost will be on the backs of low- and moderate-income Vermonters who will pay for it through increased fuel costs in the range of $5 per gallon.  Worse, hoped-for long-term energy savings will not occur.

As some of you may recall, I have for several years offered my prime candidate for a nonpartisan nonpolitical charitable contribution: Spirit of America.

One of my go-to guys on nuclear energy is Jack Devanney, now retired after forty years managing nuclear projects and wrestling with nuclear regulators. Here’s his latest insight: