McGuinness for VT Addison-4 House
Global Warming Solutions Act
The Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA, Act 153, 2020) contains a provision allowing anyone to sue the State if Vermont fails to meet CO2 emissions reductions mandates. The Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) is planning on suing the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources in 2025, claiming the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) is using a model to make it appear we are meeting mandates when we are not. Vermont taxpayers will pay for the State's defense, and if the CLF prevails, Vermonters will also pay for the State to come into compliance with the GWSA, the cost of which will be astronomical. How will a lawsuit against the VT ANR, funded by taxpayers, improve the global climate and Vermont's environment and resiliency to extreme weather events?
Overall, Vermonters are environmentally conscious and make decisions based upon their concern for the environment. We need to roll back the mandates to goals in the GWSA in order to prevent a financial burden on lower- and moderate-income Vermonters, and vote “NO” carbon credit fees component of the Clean Heat Standard in January of 2025, which would raise the cost of heating fuels up to $4/gallon. I am in favor of legislation that incentivizes carbon sequestering through regenerative farming practices such as rotational grazing and regulatory relief for small-scale farms to increase our local food production – thus lowering emissions from the transportation of farm products into Vermont. Vermonters who can afford it already purchase heat pumps and EVs and do not need state incentives subsidized by less affluent residents. Vermont banned fracking in 2012. I doubt our state would tolerate lithium mines, so I cannot accept that there are environmental trade-offs with lithium mining that persons in other countries suffer. Vermont banned fracking in 2012. I doubt our state would tolerate lithium mines, so I cannot accept that there are environmental trade-offs with lithium mining that persons in other countries suffer. How does the use of diesel to mine lithium impact CO2 emissions goals? We need to be measuring upstream costs to have a full picture of whether policies are truly meeting our goals.
Solutions:
•Repeal the provision of the Global Warming Solutions Act that allows anyone to sue the State if we fail to meet CO2 emissions mandates, change mandates to goals, and vote down the Clean Heat Standard in 2025, which will impose carbon credit fees on fuel dealers, the cost of which will be passed on to consumers.
•Prioritize financial resources toward expansion and upgrades of our water and sewer treatment plants to eliminate the dumping of millions of gallons of sewage into our waterways every year, including Lake Champlain. This would directly improve the quality of our environment. Visit the Vermont ANR sewage overflow report page.
•Prioritize climate resilience by investing in infrastructure that mitigates flood damage.