By Gov. Phil Scott
Editor’s note: At a press conference Thursday, Sept. 12, Governor Phil Scott discussed the costs and barriers to implementing the Legislature’s Clean Heat Standard, and the impacts it will have on affordability. This is the transcript of that speech.
Last year, I vetoed S.5, the so called ‘Affordable Heat Act’ which established a Clean Heat Standard. Unfortunately, the Legislature overrode that veto, so the bill became law.
Now I want to be clear, we don’t necessarily disagree with the goals within the Clean Heat Standard like reducing emissions from the thermal sector. And, we’ve actually already invested over $200 million in the climate sector in the last couple years.
Our disagreement is in how we get there. I’ve always believed affordability considerations should be taken seriously, because they’re significant.
We need to be thoughtful and realistic, and make sure we’re not hurting the Vermonters who can least afford it.
After the Legislature overrode my veto, I told Vermonters we’d update them along the way so they have a good understanding of how this will impact them.
Just last week, the consultant charged with studying the potential impacts and cost of this law presented their findings. And not only are the costs extremely high, at almost $10 billion, the report also points to other challenges like workforce shortages and, just months before the Legislature will be asked to move forward with this policy, there are still many unanswered questions, like, who actually pays for what.
However, I did see that Senator Bray, one of the architects of the Affordable Heat Act, said it could add $1.70 to a gallon of heating fuel.
And we can’t forget about the Renewable Energy Standard, another bill the Legislature also passed over my veto, which will raise electrical rates, costing Vermonters millions of dollars.
And with the already-high cost of living…historic property tax increases, higher DMV fees, a new payroll tax, and so much more this Legislature has passed, the cost estimates for the Legislature’s Clean Heat Standard are alarming.
All along the way, we asked the Legislature to fully consider the impacts of the Clean Heat Standard and be honest about the costs and complications.
Now that there’s an election around the corner, we’re seeing some legislators having second thoughts. But, I’m concerned about what they’ll do in January when the election is over.
Now, I’d like to end by reading from my 2023 budget address, when talking about this clean heat policy. Again, this was almost two years ago:
The fact is 70% of Vermonters rely on fossil fuels to heat their homes. To change this, we need to help people through this transition, not punish them.
We must also answer some tough questions, which I get asked all the time, like:
“Can our electrical grid handle the load needed for a cleaner and more affordable energy future?”
“How will we make sure people stay warm or charge their vehicles, when, not if, the power goes out?”
And most importantly, “How do we make sure lower and moderate-income families can afford the switch?”
There are solutions to these questions and I share the sense of urgency here. But we’ve got to get this right. Doing this strategically, with the understanding we can’t hurt the very people we’re trying to help, will ultimately get us where we all want to go faster and with much less conflict.
So my budget dedicates funding to our Climate Office to develop a real plan, outlining exactly what work needs to be done on what timeline and at what cost. And we’ll bring this plan back to you, so everyone can see the details.
Because as is the case for any project like roads, bridges and buildings, the Legislature has an obligation to debate and vote on these specifics, in bill form, and then send it to the Governor for action.”
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Now you know, this was not the approach the Legislature took when passing S.5.
We’ve now spent more than a year working on a legislatively-mandated policy before we knew what it would cost, if it would work, or if we could even do it.
And it turns out, we probably can’t.
From my perspective, this is starting to look a lot like single payer. And, we should learn from the mistakes of the past because Vermonters deserve better.
