New Guidebooks Help Vermont Communities Comprehensively Address Energy

A set of tools recently released by the Vermont Natural Resources Council and the Vermont League of Cities and Towns outline how communities can comprehensively, systematically and aggressively address energy use and generation. Help your community broadly address energy issues by harnessing these tools and the help of the many resources outlined in the guides. Find out more...

Omya ruling sets precedent for Vermont Yankee

A recent ruling by the Vermont Environmental Court relating to groundwater pollution at Omya’s calcium carbonate processing facility in Florence supports VNRC's argument that radioactive leaks at Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon have violated the public trust provisions of a groundwater protection law passed in Vermont in 2008. “The court’s ruling supports our contention that Vermont Yankee’s continued contamination of groundwater violates the public trust,” said Elizabeth Courtney, VNRC’s Executive Director. “The ruling also has the effect of strongly supporting our call – and the call from many, many Vermonters – for this dangerous, leaking plant to be shut down.”

PACE 2.0 - Strategic Fixes Needed to Important Energy Financing Program

Dozens of Vermont communities have expressed an interest in moving the clean energy financing tool known as 'PACE' forward locally. That's because PACE could provide a key mechanism for making up-front capital available to homeowners for investments in significant weatherization projects or home-scaled renewables. Unfortunately, federal mortgage backers like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have created some potentially debilitating stumbling blocks to the program. Now, an effort is afoot to address those issues and move the promising program forward.

VECAN Announces Small Grant Program

At the third annual 'Community Energy and Climate Action Conference,' the Vermont Energy Climate Action Network announced a new grant program to support Vermont energy committees and groups working on energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in their communities. The goals of Building the Power of Vermont Communities grant program are to help communities save energy, transition to renewables and decrease their community’s contribution to climate change.

Governor-elect Peter Shumlin on Energy at the Community Energy and Climate Action Conference--Part I

Governor-elect Peter Shumlin on Energy at the Community Energy and Climate Action Conference--Part II

Governor-elect Peter Shumlin on Energy at the Community Energy and Climate Action Conference--Part III

Vermonters Gather to Shape State’s Energy Future

On December 4, 2010 energy leaders from across the state will gather for the third annual Community Energy and Climate Action Conference in Fairlee. If you want to help shape Vermont’s energy future, in your community or beyond, be sure you don’t miss this great event. Anyone interested in Vermont’s energy future is welcome to attend.

Wind In Vermont: It Has a Place, With Proper Planning

October 21, 2010 --- Today, VNRC joined three of the state's other leading environmental organizations to issue a statement in support of wind energy in Vermont. VNRC believes wind energy will be and should be a part of the state's energy mix, but supports only those projects that are properly designed, carefully sited, of an appropriate scale for the host community and surrounding region and which also balance diverse issues. This is a critical moment in the world’s history. It is also a potential pivotal moment in the state’s history. The question — and the challenge facing Vermont — is not so much whether wind energy will be developed, but rather, the manner in which it occurs. Read more about VNRC's thoughts on how it might happen.

Environmental Groups' Joint Statement on Wind Energy Development in Vermont

The Conservation Law Foundation, Vermont League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, Vermont Natural Resources Council and Vermont Public Interest Research Group offer a joint statement of support for the development of wind energy in Vermont. The collective statement of support for wind, and other renewable energy technologies, is based on our deep concern that society has not moved fast or aggressively enough to address the most urgent environmental crisis in human history: climate change.