Walter Sainsbury

September 29, 2011

Recently, the Vermont Department of Public Service ("DPS") proposed a comprehensive energy plan to acquire 90 percent of the state's electricity from renewable resources by 2050. The proposed plan would mark the first clear energy path that the state has published since 1998.

Currently, the state ranks 41st in energy consumption in the U.S. with most of the in-state energy coming from Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant. With the plant's impending closure, a new energy plan was expected. The plan, which is in the public review stage, four main goals: enhanced efficiency; greater use of clean, renewable energy sources for electricity, heating, and transportation; adoption of an electric vehicle fleet; and the use of renewable fuels.

The commissioner of the DPS stated that, "Incremental progress is the key." Many support the general framework of the plan, but express concern with the concrete steps called for. Vermonters spent approximately $600 million last year in importing fossil fuels for heating and transportation. With a rural state that requires its citizens often to drive extensive miles on rural roads to traverse the state, a plan that addresses transportation is critical. An important piece of the plan calls for the state to be prepared for the introduction of an electric fleet of vehicles once this trend becomes nationwide.

Another piece of the plan calls for continued work on energy efficiency for homes. This is intended to continue the work of legislation passed in 2008, which mandated that 80,000 homes receive the retrofitting by 2020. As of now only 6,700 homes have received the efficiency upgrades.

Critics of the plan point to the fact that it contains a provision to use natural gas should there be an energy shortage. Matt Cota, director of the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association, expressed concern that this will turn the state in the wrong direction. With the closing of Vermont Yankee the prospect of using natural gas in a larger capacity seems to be looming in the future.

The public comment period for the plan will continue until October 10 when they will be taken into consideration for release of a draft plan to Governor Shumlin in mid-October. Release of the final plan is expected to take place in November.

Sources:

Nancy Remsen, Vermont Faces Up To Energy Challenge, Burlington Free Press, Sep. 30, 2011, http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20110930/NEWS02/110929045/Vermont-faces-up-energy-challenge?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

U.S. Energy Info. Admin., Vermont, U.S. States, http://205.254.135.24/state/state-energy-profiles-data.cfm?sid=VT#Consumption.

Vermont Dept. of Public Service, Comprehensive Energy Plan 2011 (2011), available at http://www.vtenergyplan.vermont.gov/