Gov. Phil Scott on Thursday vetoed a bill that would require Vermont utilities to buy more renewable energy at a faster pace, with most utilities purchasing all of their energy from renewable sources by 2030.
Scott cited the cost of H.289 as his main concern.
“I don’t believe there is any debate that H.289 will raise Vermonters’ utility rates, likely by hundreds of millions of dollars. And while that in itself is reason enough to earn a veto, it is even more frustrating when you consider our Department of Public Service proposed to the Legislature a much stronger plan at a fraction of the cost,” Scott said in a letter to lawmakers explaining his veto.
Scott’s administration, lawmakers and the bill’s supporters and opponents debated the potential cost of the bill over the course of the recently adjourned legislative session. While members of the Public Service Department projected the bill would cost ratepayers $1 billion — a figure that caught on in the public sphere and was often cited by the bill’s opponents — the state’s Joint Fiscal Office later said the bill’s price tag would be less than half the department’s estimate.
Nevertheless, Scott wrote, “factoring in all the other taxes, fees and higher costs the Legislature has passed over the last two years, I simply cannot allow this bill to go into law.”
H.289 would increase the state’s renewable energy standard, which requires utilities to purchase a specific percentage of their energy from renewable sources. Right now, the law requires utilities to buy 75% of their energy from renewable sources by 2032.
The bill would accelerate that transition, requiring most utilities to source 100% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and all utilities to make the switch by 2035. Over time, it would also require them to purchase about 20% of their energy from small, in-state renewable sources and an additional 20% from regional renewable sources capable of sending power directly into the New England grid.
Scott’s announcement on Thursday afternoon provoked an immediate spate of criticism from the bill’s supporters, including lawmakers and environmental lobbyists.
In a statement, environmental groups including Vermont Conservation Voters, the Vermont Natural Resources Council, the Vermont Public Interest Research Group and 350 Vermont called the veto “a dismaying attempt to obstruct Vermont’s environmental and economic progress.”
“Unfortunately Governor Scott and his party are an automatic ‘no’ on any policy that will move the needle on fossil fuel dependence,” Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden Central, said in a press release shortly after the governor issued his veto.
“Each session, we present carefully crafted legislation to reduce Vermont’s carbon output and protect lower-income Vermonters in the process; Governor Scott and his allies then do their best to scuttle the bill,” Baruth said. “It’s a shameful dynamic, especially in a world where our state capital still lacks a functioning US post office due to persistent, climate-related flooding.”
Peter Sterling, executive director of the trade organization Renewable Energy Vermont, said the Scott administration’s alternative proposal included increasing Vermont’s reliance on nuclear energy and reducing the compensation for Vermonters with solar panels for the energy they send back to the grid. After reviewing public comments on the department’s plan, Sterling didn’t find support for those ideas, he said.
“Is it cheaper? Yes, because it does less to stop climate change,” Sterling said in an interview.
Also on Thursday, members of the Vermont Youth Lobby gathered outside the Statehouse to support environmental efforts in the state.
“Our legislators have passed historic climate bills. Ones that will put Vermont at the forefront of climate action in the US,” said Jenna Hirschman, a fourth-year Essex High School student who spoke on Thursday. “And yet our governor has made it clear, year after year he will veto any and all climate bills.”
Lawmakers in both chambers may have the two-thirds majorities required to override Scott’s veto, but the margins appear thin. House members voted 99-39 on an amendment to the bill with 11 absences. The Senate passed the bill in an 18-8 vote with three absences.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Phil Scott vetoes Vermont lawmakers’ priority energy bill.