Members of both the House and Senate voted on Monday to override Gov. Phil Scott’s veto of a bill that aims to increase Vermont’s reliance on renewable energy. It requires most of the state’s utilities to purchase 100% of their electricity by 2030.
Each chamber needed a two-thirds majority to override Scott’s veto. House members voted 102-43 to override the bill, and senators voted 21-8.
The debate surrounding H.289 has focused on its estimated cost to ratepayers. Scott’s administration contended the bill would be expensive for Vermonters, adding to a number of increased living costs in the state.
“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,” he wrote in a letter to lawmakers explaining his veto last month.
The bill’s supporters and the state’s Joint Fiscal Office, meanwhile, have said that the Scott administration’s projections were inflated.
Supporters of the renewable energy standard often credit the existing law with shifting the state’s electric portfolio to mostly renewable energy. The previous law required utilities to buy 75% of their energy from renewable sources by 2032.
H.289 accelerates that transition, requiring most utilities to source 100% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2030. Under its provisions, all utilities must make the switch by 2035.
The law also requires utilities over time to purchase about 20% of their energy from in-state renewable sources and an additional 20% from renewable sources in the region that are capable of sending power directly into the New England grid.
Utilities can purchase renewable energy credits from solar, wind and hydro projects, but they don’t have control over most of the sources that power New England’s grid, including a large percentage that comes from natural gas.
Supporters of H.289 say that the new law creates a greater opportunity for Vermont utilities to cut carbon pollution in the region. By requiring utilities to purchase more power from new renewable sources in New England — and therefore fund those projects — the utilities could potentially displace natural gas plants.
The framework for the bill came from a rare consensus among utilities, industry representatives and environmental groups. The Scott administration presented a different proposal it said would be cheaper to implement.
“Vermont currently has the lowest electricity rates in New England and this will support our work to increase the reliability of our electric grid while also ensuring we are doing so with clean energy,” House Speaker Jill Krowinski, D-Burlington, said in a statement following her chamber’s successful override vote.
“Our state is incredibly reliant on the climate, from farming to skiing to maple syrup, and we need to do all we can to help lower our reliance on fossil fuels and set us up for success for years to come,” Krowinski said.
After senators followed suit, Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden Central, issued a statement calling the governor’s veto the continuation of “a pattern of rejecting critical progress on climate action.”
“However, while Vermonters continue to face the impacts of recent climate disasters, the Senate has made clear that the status quo is unacceptable and will continue our unwavering commitment to addressing the climate crisis,” he said.
A group of environmental groups — including 350VT, Vermont Conservation Voters, Vermont Natural Resources Council, Vermont Public Interest Research Group, the Conservation Law Foundation of Vermont, Vermont Sierra Club and the trade group Renewable Energy Vermont — applauded the override. In a statement, they called the bill’s passage “the most significant action Vermont has ever taken to cut carbon pollution in the electric sector.”
Read the story on VTDigger here: Updated renewable energy standard to become law following override.