MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – What will the new balance of power at the Statehouse mean for cutting carbon emissions in Vermont? Lawmakers last year teed up a thermal energy bill that could cost Vermonters up to $10 billion. But now that Democrats have lost their supermajority in the Legislature, the prospects for the final vote on that measure remain uncertain.
“We want to support growing Barre,” said Kim Somaini, who along with three other women banded together this fall to open 802 Paws, a spa for four-legged friends in Barre. “Working together as a cooperative we were able to make it financially possible.”
The group is now waiting on their first heating bills with bated breath, worried things might get rough if rates continue to rise.
Changing how we heat buildings is a big priority of state lawmakers. When the new Legislature returns in January they are expected to vote on the Clean Heat Standard, aiming to incentivize more eco-friendly forms of home heating and phasing out fossil fuels.
Governor Phil Scott has long voiced concerns about the measure’s cost to consumers, and now that voters have endorsed his affordability agenda and broken Democrats supermajority, the governor says this will set the table for more compromise.”I think Vermonters were saying ‘You have to use some common sense here,’” Scott said.
“Vermonters want us to act on climate and we need to do so with an affordability lens,” said Rep. Amy Sheldon, D-Middlebury.
Top Democrats say the potential price tag of the plan could be up to $10 billion, but we don’t know yet what the Clean Heat Standard will mean for what Vermonters wil pay for heating fuel.
Sheldon says weaning the state off fossil fuels will save money in the long run. ” We know we need to help low-income Vermonters transition off of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are way more volatile, they are polluting, and electrification is the way forward,” she said.
If the state falls short of its climate goal, it opens the door to lawsuits. That has the governor wondering if the state should push back those goals. “There’s a pace that I think we have to accept that we can’t do all of this at once,” Scott said.
Back in Barre, Somaini says she hopes lawmakers will make it more affordable to stay in business. “So that people like us can work together to do something that we love and enjoy,” she said.
A report outlining the impacts of the Clean Heat Standard on the cost of fuel oil is due next month.