Category Archives: Energy

Bending the Knee Paid Immediate Dividends for the Governor… Not

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It was a little more than a week ago that Gov. Phil Scott held an unpublicized-until-after-the-fact meeting with EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. The only notice anyone received of the event was a post on the governor’s Facebook page, which included a bunch of photos and a brief caption. Which is all we know about the meeting, since the press apparently got no advance notice.

But yeah, you might hope that Scott’s dignity would have at least bought him a little breathing room from the Trump administration’s savage and unconstitutional cuts in federal spending, especially where Zeldin himself is concerned.

I regret to inform you that any such hopes were completely unfounded.

The Scott-Zeldin confab was on Sunday, August 3. Well, four days later, on August 7, Zeldin delivered a swift kick in the nuts to our groveling governor: The Trump administration announced a clawback of $62.5 million in already-appropriated federal funds meant for Vermont’s Solar for All program, designed to help lower-income people access the benefits of solar power. (The cut was first reported by VTDigger, um, today.) It was part of a larger, nationwide cut in the program, but that’s one hell of a lot of money we’re not going to get, that won’t help a lot of lower-income people take advantage of the Green Revolution or build out our renewable infrastructure or reduce our dependence on out-of-state fossil fuel.

Accompanying the announcement was a cheery little video message from Zeldin himself, labeling Solar for All, a brainchlld of Vermont’s own Sen. Bernie Sanders, ” as a “grift” and a “boondoggle.”

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Sorry, But I’m With the Litigious Developer On This One

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Friday afternoon brought us, courtesy of VTDigger, a fascinating story from down Bennington way, where local officials have basically waved the white flag over a proposed solar array north of town, planned by “solar developer and lawyer Thomas Melone.” Melone has been highly litigious in this matter, and numerous cases are pending before the courts. Apparently the town Parental Figures have decided to stop paying lawyers and let Melone have his way.

And you know what? In this case, the litigious plutocrat is the good guy.

I’ll sit back for a moment and let the brickbats fly.

Now, I don’t know the history of the case. But I sure as hell recognize a flaming outbreak of the NIMBYs when I see it, and this is a classic example. The opposition to this development goes to outrageous lengths to make its case. Reading this story made me wonder how in holy Hell we will ever get close to meeting our emissions reductions targets. Which, reminder, are established in state law.

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Big Boy, Big Little Toys (UPDATED With Astonishingly Well-Timed April Fools Day Prank)

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The Monday VTDigger feed brings us some not terribly surprising news: That Gov. Phil Scott is apparently enamored of an emerging technology as a way to produce more renewable energy in-state.

Well, some would put quotes around “renewable,” because his gizmo of choice is a new generation of small modular nuclear reactors. See, large-scale wind and solar are just too much for our poor Vermont environment to take, but hey, let’s spread a bunch of mini-nukes around the landscape. What could go wrong?

It was a fine piece of reporting by Digger, written by intern Olivia Gieger*, inspired by a March 21 social media post by the governor (that otherwise seems to have gone unnoticed) touting small reactors as a possible solution to our green-energy problems.

*Insert obligatory “counter” joke here. I’m sure she’s never heard it before.

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Oh Great, Here Comes the Next Energy Panic

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Hey everybody, meet BESS. Comely little lass, no?

BESS is short for Battery Energy Storage System. Inside those modular-home-lookin’ boxes are lots and lots of lithium-ion batteries. (The technology is changing; some newer BESSes have other kinds of batteries.) These installations store energy produced during off-peak times, often from wind or solar arrays, and save it for times of peak demand. They can also provide emergency power during outages.

These things, it says here, are poised to become key components of the electric power grid of tomorrow.

I hadn’t been formally introduced to BESS until I spent a few days in Long Lake, New York, a tiny town in the heart of the Adirondacks. While driving around town, I couldn’t help notice bright yellow signs along the roadside that said “Stop the Lithium Battery Farm” with a URL at the bottom. Following the link, I discovered that a group of local residents is trying to block the installation of a BESS.

Oh great, I thought. Another energy panic is upon us.

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Vermont’s Renewable Energy Sector Has Taken a Dive Since 2016. Gee, What Happened at the End of That Year?

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The good folks at Renewable Energy Vermont have issued a new report called “No Good Reason” which chronicles the extreme slowdown in solar energy projects since 2016. As seen in the above graph, Vermont’s rollout has slowed at the same time that solar is on the rise across America.

Two words missing from the report: “Phil Scott.”

Yep. the report shows that since 2016, state regulators have done their level best to delay and defeat solar energy development in Vermont. But while it assigns blame to the Public Utility Commission, the Department of Public Service and the Agency of Natural Resources, it skirts around naming the man responsible for appointing those officials and setting the policy course they all follow. Also unmentioned: political appointees like DPS Commissioner June Tierney, ANR Secretary Julie Moore, PUC Chair Anthony Roisman, and PUC Commissioner Margaret Cheney, a.k.a. the wife of U.S. Sen. Peter Welch.

Maybe REV is trying to be diplomatic. Myself, I think they’re cowards.

Still, it’s a great report that quantifies what’s been obvious for years: the Scott administration is happy to obstruct solar in Vermont and meet our renewable energy needs with power from Hydro Quebec.

The result: Vermont ranks 48th in the nation in meeting its electricity needs within its borders. Only Massachusetts and Delaware, small states that consume a lot more energy than Vermont, rank lower.

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“Overabundance of Caution” Means Whatever the Hell Tom Evslin Says It Means

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The VTDigger commentary space is often a repository for the very best in straw-man punching: setting up an easy target and dispatching it with, if you’re talented enough, a rhetorical flourish.

Well, Tom Evslin, entrepreneur, serial Republican donor, self-appointed technology seer and number-one fan* of Elon Musk’s Starlink Internet service**, went one better in the straw man competition. He threw together a whole bunch of miscellaneous straw men under the rubric of “overabundance of caution” and went straight down the line, punching each of them in turn. All in service of a point that apparently made sense to him but is, in fact, utterly incoherent.

*He has given his own Starlink satellite dish a nickname: “Dishy”

*His occasional musings on the glories of Starlink have found a home on True North Reports, because Musk is the closest thing reality offers to an Ayn Rand hero. Except Musk is a phony; his companies have received literally billions in public sector grant funding.

The overarching point is that Our Political Leaders sometimes overreact to a potential danger, thus putting us all in metaphorical shackles. And by “overreact,” I mean doing something that Tom Evslin disagrees with. Ah, if only we were all as wise as he.

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GlobalFoundries Gonna Try Again For That Thing They Say They Don’t Need

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Hey, remember when the state Public Utility Commission ruled against GlobalFoundries’ request to become its own electricity provider? Well, the PUC gave the company until March 11 to come back with a new filing.

For those keeping score at home, that’s tomorrow.

And yes indeed, I’ve been told that GlobalFoundries will file for reconsideration by the PUC despite the fact that it had insisted it would go ahead with its plan without PUC approval.

In its February ruling, the PUC said it had the authority to grant GF its independent status, but not to give GF an exemption from Vermont’s renewable energy standards. After the ruling, GF said it would go ahead without that exemption because meeting the RES targets would be no problem.

I guess the overlords of Essex have had a change of heart. Which isn’t too much of a surprise, since they’ve done that before.

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Nice Little Regulatory System You’ve Got Here, It’d Be a Shame if Anything Happened To It

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Hey, it’s time for an update on the latest bit of corporate extortion from our buddies at GlobalFoundries, the biggest private sector employer in Chittenden County. Throughout its tenure — and before it, through much of IBM’s residency at the Essex Junction facility — the companies have used their heft to get various benefits from the state government, each time hinting to pull up stakes and leave for more corporate-friendly climes if it didn’t get its way.

This time there’s a double threat. GF is seeking to set up its own private utility so it can buy power on the regional market free of various state regulations, including renewable energy and greenhouse gas standards. It’s seeking Public Utility Commission approval for the move — and threatening to go ahead with or without PUC approval.

GF makes a, shall we say, interesting argument. In essence, it argues that it doesn’t need PUC approval, but it’s applying to the PUC anyway in order to preserve Vermont’s regulatory framework. Yup, the company says it’s acting to preserve a regulatory system by seeking to essentially opt out of the system. That’s a funny way to support a system, no?

But a question has arisen over whether or not the PUC can even consider the case. The Conservation Law Foundation and AllEarth Renewables say the PUC has no jurisdiction over the request because state law doesn’t make any provision for anything like private utilities.

Last month, the parties submitted legal arguments and counter-arguments for the Commission to ponder. Wednesday 12/8 is the deadline for any additional filings on the issue; after that, presumably the PUC will schedule a hearing. All documents, public comments, schedules, etc., can be accessed on this page in the PUC website.

So where do the parties stand? I’ll give you a simplified (and hopefully reasonably accurate) version after the jump.

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So Much Horse Hockey in Such a Small Paddock

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Honestly, I wouldn’t expect our area Chambers of Commerce to do anything but support GlobalFoundries in its bid to operate its own utility, thus sidestepping the Global Warming Solutions Act and other state rules and regulations. The Chambers are on the side of business, after all, and any threat to GF’s presence in Essex Junction is a threat to the region’s economy as a whole — including the Chambers’ constituencies. But this toxic little opinion piece from the Vermont and Lake Champlain Chambers plus the Greater Burlington Industrial Corporation is an exercise in desperation and deception.

The thesis, as stated in the headline above, is that GlobalFoundries “will help combat climate change.” Huh. So exempting GF from the GWSA will help us fight climate change? Do tell.

In order to prove this unlikely theory, Cioffi et al. proceed to put their thumbs on the scale at every opportunity, spinning out unlikely scenarios full of conditional clauses while offering no evidence whatsoever that the deal will be a blow against climate change.

Let’s run through the deceptions, shall we?

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The GlobalFoundries Deal Is Bad, But Maybe Not Quite Terrible

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Had a polite conversation (well, it was testy at first) with someone in the Scott administration who’s involved in the talks with GlobalFoundries over its desire to create its own utility exempt from laws and regulations that apply to all other utilities. As a reminder, the Scott administration and GF have signed a Letter of Intent en route to a formal agreement that would allow GF to have its way.

I came away from the chat with a bit more perspective, but my fundamental belief remains: This is a case of government bowing to the demands of an employer that’s too big to deny.

I’m not naming the official because our chat was off the record, and also because this post reflects my own view of the situation and not theirs.

First, a significant correction. I wrote that the Global Warming Solutions Act set a greenhouse gas emission baseline of 1990 while the LOI uses 2005, when emissions were at their peak. In fact, the GWSA also uses 2005 as its baseline for the 2025 target. 1990 applies for other, later targets.

So in the LOI, GF is agreeing to abide by the 2025 emissions target in the Global Warming Solutions Act. But three things are still true: First, GF’s current emissions are only a tick higher than the 2025 target so the company won’t have to do much at all. Second, the letter is riddled with exceptions and exemptions that would allow GF to exceed the target. Third, the LOI would allow GF to exceed its target under a variety of circumstances.

But there is one line in the LOI that leaves the door open for further state action.

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