My Vision for our Energy Future

A major issue we face now is the lack of a comprehensive energy plan. Where will our base load energy come from for the next 20 years? How can we expand our use of renewable energy and have it become truly affordable?

As governor I will create a blue ribbon panel of Vermont experts in the energy field to create a 5, 10 and 20 year plan for moving Vermont to a locally produced, reliable energy future. The impact of this planning, and supporting legislation, is as important as Act 250 was to preserve our landscape in the 1970s.

I cannot foresee any circumstances that would persuade me to support the operation of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant beyond its long scheduled 2012 closing date. Vermont needs to turn the page on VY and focus on meeting our energy needs from other sources of energy with an ever-increasing emphasis on energy efficiency and conservation.

Almost every transition creates some hardships and when Vermont Yankee closes in 2012 there will be changes in jobs and a loss of jobs. On the other hand we know that every transition creates opportunities. We know this transition is coming and as governor I will work between now and 2012 to mitigate the negative affects.

The current number of jobs at the plant is approximately 900 and upon closing it is estimated there will be a loss of 300 jobs in the first year. We know that moving the plant to SAFSTOR keeps a number of jobs at the plant for many years. If the plant moves to decommissioning, literally taking the plant apart, there are a number of jobs created for the process of disassembling the plant. This not only provides the benefit of the total removal of the plant, but also allows for additional time to create new jobs in the energy field.

In the consensus economic and fiscal impact analyses associated with the future of Vermont Yankee, they show an increase in jobs over several years if we as a state make investments in efficiency, conservation and renewables. Using the money in the Clean Energy Fund, money from a fee the state receives from Vermont Yankee for dry cask storage (this will continue as long as the casks are there) we can invest millions of dollars a year into the creation of new energy jobs.

Given the significant transmission infrastructure development surrounding Vermont Yankee, I believe it is important to explore the generation opportunities that could be locally sited. This could be biomass that would create construction jobs and long-term timber production and logging and forestry jobs. I believe it is important to explore the possibility of a natural gas fired plant on the site, which would provide many high paying jobs.

Energy efficiency is the least expensive and cleanest source of electrical energy. Energy efficiency investments create jobs because energy efficiency improvements are labor intensive and local. Besides creating jobs, the money saved generated by efficiency improvements stays with the consumer, helping all of Vermont’s economy. Vermont has a long and strong tradition of investment in energy efficiency and should continue its investment. It will reduce our use of electricity as well as the use of energy to heat our homes while creating jobs in the hard-hit construction industry.

We are in the process of changing Efficiency Vermont into an all-fuels utility.  That will be a huge help to all homeowners as they learn how many ways they can save not just electricity, but all other forms of energy.

Vermont has a number of small hydroelectric facilities. With moderate improvements to make them run more efficiently, they will remain an important Vermont resource. Expansion of our wind farms, wood-fired generation, solar generation and farm and landfill methane projects will also be needed.

Industrial wind power is the most-talked about form of renewable energy because it is the most controversial. I am not willing to give up our beautiful ridge lines to wind turbines without a comprehensive plan for our energy future. Once we know where we are going, we need to streamline the permit process and allow folks not only in the town where they are located, but people in surrounding towns a voice as well.

Biomass is a great source of energy for Vermont and must be part of our energy mix. It will create jobs and can generate not only heat, but also electricity through co-generation. There are several plans in the works to heat entire areas of towns from one plant. We have biomass plants generating electricity now and another on the way.

I have supported a group up in the islands called the Farmer's Watershed Alliance and they have been working on best practices to help clean up water's that drain into our streams and ponds and lakes.  One of the other projects they have been working on is bio-diesel.   They can produce bio-diesel from their seeds crops (canola and sunflower) for $1.70 a gallon...it costs them $2.70 to buy it!   The by-product of the pressing is very high in protein and they use it to feed their calves and don't have to buy grain.  Talk about a win/win for the farmer, for the environment and for energy use. I can foresee whole farms making fuel to sell locally at a profit.

Vermont spends a lot of money buying power for our public buildings. A long-term plan could have us equipping them with solar panels that generate more power than they use. This will benefit our schools and other public facilities and help to lower taxes once the equipment is paid for.

Our SPEED feed-in tariff for renewable energy is a perfect example of how we can develop local resources. Vermont also needs to have a mix of long-term fixed-price contracts with renewable generation in New England. The Hydro-Quebec contract is not a fixed price contract and it does not protect Vermonters from high electric prices in the future.

The Smart Grid should be fully developed. Right now the potential of the smart grid is unknown, but can become an important piece of conservation. I do not think that individual utilities will necessarily develop this process to its full capacity. My administration will provide strong leadership to the regulators to ensure we can maximize the efficiency of the use of grid resources.


CLIMATE CHANGE

We all live on this planet and no one can ignore the global changes that man has made on it. We cannot continue with the relatively unrestrained abuse of our planet’s air, water and soil without dire consequences. Although the science supporting climate change has been continually challenged by a small but vocal group of skeptics, as the body of scientific knowledge has grown, the debate has mostly shifted from whether it is real to how best to control it. I believe it is real and I refer you to my definition of a green economy.

Carbon dioxide is the greenhouse gas that is produced in Vermont by the burning of fossil fuel for home heating, transportation and electric power demand. State and federal policies that promote efficiency reduce the need to burn fuel. For home heating, building codes, energy efficiency initiatives like Efficiency Vermont, extending federal tax energy efficiency credits and federal appliance efficiency standards are effective tools. In the area of transportation we need to develop real systems of public transportation.

GREEN ECONOMY

The next priority is ensuring that Vermont leads in the use of clean energy and that we develop a plan for how we best create a green economy.

I think that the Green Economy is much more than green energy. For me it is today’s reusing, reducing and recycling model. The Green Economy is about renewables and conservation, waste management, sustainable transportation and buying local. It’s about putting systems in place that will lead us all to an economy that is based on lowering our carbon footprint as individuals and as society as a whole. A Green Economy is a sustainable economy.

I believe that there are many different jobs created as we move towards a green economy. Certainly there are many jobs created when we support making our homes and places of work more energy efficiency, when we build bike paths, when we install solar panels and wind turbines. I believe the longer lasting jobs will be created by the innovation that we Vermonters develop as we develop a Green Economy.

It’s not building the wind turbine, it is creating the technology that makes the turbine a better turbine and then getting a patent on that technology that creates the jobs and grows our economy long term. It’s the system of waste management that is innovative and patented that creates the long-term economic development. It’s the innovative ideas and equipment we develop to clean up Lake Champlain that will attract and keep young people in Vermont. It is the many spin-off companies that can grow from the innovations in any field of the green economy. If we become the home of innovation and intellectual property (patents) we will grow the economy and keep and attract young people to Vermont.

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

As I drive past our Park and Rides, they are not filled to capacity right now and I would venture a guess that public transit is not filled. Obviously when gas is really expensive, we will leave our cars, but most of the time we are still wed to our individual automobiles. I believe that using dollars to modernize our public transit system is very important and that as a state we have to be willing to support public transit for a number of years before we change our habits. As governor I would institute programs that “sell” public transportation as a way to save money for individuals and a way to help lower our over all carbon footprint.

I believe that rail can become an important part of our public transit system. As we receive the federal dollars to upgrade our rail beds, I believe that commuter runs between places like St Albans to Montpelier and Bennington to Rutland can become an important piece of commuting in Vermont. There is interest, followed by dollars, in Washington that has not existed for many years and as governor I would have a plan in place to show that there is definitely interest in reliable public transit, by rail, for everyday commuters. It will take time to change our habits and it will take a long-term commitment to create these changes.


CIRC HIGHWAY

Thirty-five years ago the Circumferential Highway was the reflection of the thinking of the day; ways to go around cities for all of those cars. Today there is more of a desire to get us out of our individual cars and onto public transit. The land has been purchased and many communities planned their growth around the idea of a circ highway. Our world has changed in 35 years and what once was a perfect solution may not now be the best idea. With the new environmental study, as governor I would get the businesses and communities most affected to work together to decide what really is the best use of our dollars. The dollars used to build a major highway would go a long way to establish a modern public transit system that addressed the needs of commuters and communities.

Again, what we need is a long-term energy plan for our state that addresses both generation and use of not only electricity, but also fossil fuel. My administration will make certain that one is developed. There are so many exciting things happening around all forms of energy that I am certain that Vermont can lead the country in sustainable energy use.