The Vermont legislature powered past Gov. Phil Scott’s veto of a key climate bill on Thursday, assuring that work will soon begin on a clean heat standard meant to sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings.
The House voted 107 to 42 to override the veto, achieving the two-thirds threshold that it failed to meet by just one vote last year — underscoring the newfound influence of the Democratic supermajority in the Statehouse.
“Elections matter,” said Paul Burns, executive director of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group. “This is an indication this legislature is committed to making something happen, to making actual progress.”
VPIRG and other environmental groups viewed the bill, S.5, as the most important climate legislation of the session.
The Senate overrode the bill by a vote of 20 to 10 earlier this week. That was an indication that even some Democrats remain conflicted about the path forward. The 30-member Senate has 23 Democrats and Progressives.
Support for an override in the House was seen by many as stronger than in the Senate. Climate activists nevertheless anxiously tracked the House debate and vote. Lawmakers again aired deep divisions over the bill on Thursday.
Supporters frame it as crucial step toward ensuring Vermont does its part to address climate change. Opponents attacking it as a flawed, overly complex scheme certain to hurt average Vermonters.
“This is probably one of the most important things I’ve done here and as a parent,”
Rep. Laura Sibilia (I-Dover), the vice chair of the Environment and Energy Committee, after voting to override.
The override means energy regulators must now start the challenging process of crafting a program requiring the state’s heating oil, propane and natural gas dealers to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from the fuels they sell.
After transportation, heating buildings is the second largest source of carbon emissions, contributing 36 percent of the state’s climate pollution. Weaning the state off fossil fuels for heating is a particular challenge for a northern, mountainous state like Vermont, which relies heavily on fossil fuels trucked to homes and businesses.
The law will require fuel dealers to decrease the amount of fossil fuel they sell over time or find ways to offset emissions from those fuels. They could supply lower-carbon fuels, such as biofuels, or help customers install electric heat pumps and pellet stoves.
They could also reduce the demand for fuel by weatherizing homes so less energy is needed. Doing so would earn them “clean heat credits” that could be bought and sold in a marketplace not unlike the carbon credits used in cap-and-trade systems.
Supporters say the system would provide fuel dealers flexibility to decide how they want to comply with the emission-reduction goals. They can add clean heat services to their businesses and accumulate credits. Or they can continue with business as usual, and pay increasingly stiff fees. How those credits will be calculated and what the fees will be for “noncompliance” will be sorted out during an 18-month public process before the Public Utility Commission.
Some climate activists worry that the bill will reward fuel dealers for switching to alternative fuel sources that on the surface seem more climate-friendly but are equally or more harmful.
Rep. Gabrielle Stebbins (D-Burlington) said she viewed such alternatives as important transition fuels and the bill as crucial to better understand the carbon impact of those fuels.
Kevin McCallum
Rep. Gabrielle Stebbins (D-Burlington)
"I don't think it's possible to simply turn off the switch," she said. "We need a phased approach."
Lawmakers celebrated the hard-fought victory at a press conference put on by the
Climate Solutions Caucus. Sen. Becca White (D-Windsor) said she, like many of her colleagues, had been “devastated” by the close vote last year.
She praised her colleagues for having the courage this year to see past misinformation that was spread.
“The fear that was drummed up against this bill was based on falsehoods,” White said.
Kevin McCallum
Sen. Becca White (D-Windsor)
Rep. Gina Galfetti (R-Barre) leaned into those criticisms on the House floor on Thursday.
“We will break the backs of Vermonters chasing an unrealistic goal,” she said.
Galfetti argued that the state lacks the workforce to install the tens of thousands of heat pumps; that its electric grid can’t handle the transition; and that an inevitable increased use of wood would harm air quality. She also said if the bill became law, it would be "impossible to turn back.”
In fact, the legislature and the governor must approve whatever program the Public Utility Commission drafts before it can go into effect in 2025.
Scott has opposed the clean heat standard. He's also opposed the previously approved Global Warming Solutions Act, which requires Vermont to reduce emissions, as well as the Climate Action Plan formed to try to meet those milestones.
The state needs to achieve a 40 percent reduction in emissions by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050. The 2021 Climate Action Plan named passing a clean heat standard as the single most significant step the state could take toward meeting its 2030 goals.
After the Senate’s override vote, Scott reiterated his objections.
“Regardless of whether or not your representatives listen to you this week, Vermonters should know that I will not stop advocating on your behalf,” Scott wrote. “I will continue to offer policy solutions that help people, not punish those who can least afford it.”