This Is It: Push Congress to Pass Comprehensive Climate Bill

Vermonters Look to the Woods for Fuel

A cord of wood neatly stacked in a Vermont dooryard has long been a symbol of Vermont’s centuries of self-sufficiency and clever-Yankee use of our local, natural resources.

Now, however, more than ever, spawned by dwindling supplies of traditional fuels, rising energy prices and increasing interest in energy independence, Vermonters of all stripes and persuasions are asking: Should Vermont tap its forests, more than it does today, to meet our energy demands?

Letting a Crisis Go to Waste?

There is certainly a lot to worry about these days. The catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico — which is devastating the livelihoods of thousands, drowning wildlife in oil and irrevocably ravaging ecosystems — is the most recent and deeply disturbing of our nation's worrisome events.

In Vermont, a series of leaks of radioactive water at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, no comprehensive energy plan for Vermont, significant and semi-debilitating budget constraints, a noticeable trend, for the first time in a century, of a loss of our forestland are among just a few of the challenges facing Vermonters.

VNRC Co-Hosts Forums on Biomass Energy

More and more Vermonters are seeking homegrown solutions to meet our energy needs. A diverse collaborative of stakeholders is convening a series of public forums - June 2, June 9 and July 8 - to add to the dialogue about how Vermont communities might harness the potential of forest biomass to help provide renewable energy on a sustainable basis.

Vermont Senate Denies Vermont Yankee

Over 250 Vermont Yankee opponents gathered at the State House on February 24 for the Senate's vote to decide the future of Vermont's sole nuclear power plant. They asked lawmakers to retire Vermont Yankee in 2012 - as planned. In an overwhelming, bipartisan vote, the Vermont Senate yesterday chose to do so, sending one loud, clear message: “The time is now to retire Vermont Yankee.” The vote was 26-4.

Hydro-Quebec Green? Implications of a Deal Require More Thought

The Vermont Legislature is pushing through a major shift in Vermont's renewable energy policy without thoughtful consideration of the implications.

Having heard cursory testimony on the impacts, with no word from the entity looking for the change, and no public debate, lawmakers are poised to confer a gift upon Hydro-Quebec that amounts to a green seal of quality by defining massive hydro power as "renewable." To date, Vermont policy has been that large-scale hydro is not "renewable" in large part because of its significant environmental and social costs.

Close Vermont Yankee As Scheduled: There’s a Better Way Forward

The operating license of Vermont’s aging and decrepit nuclear power plant is scheduled to terminate in 2012. Vermont Yankee’s owners, Louisiana-based Entergy, are seeking a 20-year extension to operate the imperiled facility. Vermonters have a huge stake — and, thankfully, a voice — in what will likely be one of the most significant decisions regarding public safety, our energy future, and Vermont’s reputation for environmental stewardship, that the state will ever face. Read VNRC's reasons for closing the plant, as scheduled, in 2012.

Small Town Energy Committees Prove Powerful

In an August 2009 article for the 'Times Argus/Rutland Herald' VNRC's Johanna Miller highlights what she terms "a powerful grassroots response forming throughout Vermont to cut energy costs, foster more renewable energy generation and lessen the state's contribution to global warming." Read how the network of town energy committees is growing across Vermont, what efforts they are undertaking and why it matters.

VNRC Moves to Intervene in Vermont Yankee Proceeding

As elevated levels of radioactive isotopes continue to leak into groundwater surrounding the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant - and potentially into neighboring drinking water wells - VNRC today filed a motion to intervene in the docket before the Public Service Board on Vermont Yankee. VNRC cited our interest in protecting the state’s groundwater – a resource legally held in trust for the common good of all Vermonters – and the critical need to assure the state interprets the new groundwater public trust law correctly.

PACE: A Tool to Develop More Renewable, Energy Efficiency Projects

This year, with the help of VNRC and a broad network of organizations, businesses and concerned citizens, the Legislature passed a far-reaching energy bill. One of the most exciting provisions of the bill enables Vermont municipalities to create 'clean energy assessment districts act' or PACE program to help interested property owners more affordably finance renewable energy and efficiency projects.