Opinions
All they had to do to get him to lend his prestige to the override cause was utter the words "global Warming" and Al was hooked. I will bet the extra quarter-acre of my homestead that Mr. Gore did not actually read H520, or spend 10 seconds considering the nuances of the bill, how it came about or where it fits into the Vermont scheme of things.
It is also a shame that the Democrat leadership chose to use the tired old gimmick of celebrity endorsement to support their cause rather than rely on the merits of their case to win the vote. Mr. Shumlin's piece in the Banner last Monday was illustrative of how weak the arguments for the Yankee tax bill are. He does point out that the governor has sat on his hands for five years on the issue of energy conservation.
So what? The governor doing as little as possible to provide new ideas is nothing new.
However, now that he has finally been prodded into offering an alternative plan to the Legislature, an opportunity exists. His plan and the Legislature's plan purport to have a common goal. There is room for compromise and discussion here, but the Democrat leaders want no part of that. They have scheduled a one-day session to vote and go home, win, lose or draw. This changes the situation from an attempt to deal with a serious problem through rational means to a simple shoot-out.
The defense Mr. Shumlin makes for the bill depends on wildly optimistic predictions about a huge number of jobs to be created by the tidal wave of demand to weatherproof houses. He wraps the flag around the bill and says it will free us from buying oil from countries that hate us. Which countries? Texas? Louisiana? Alaska? He claims that Vermont's energy independence will somehow evolve from a myriad of local wind, solar and hydro projects. Where does he propose to site these wind towers? How many does he think we need to build to have a measurable effect on energy production?
Except for individual solar panels on individual buildings, how many acres of panels does he think he can get past the zoning regulations and environmental laws currently in place? As for hydro, how many streams does he think are available that can be harnessed without running afoul of every environmental defense law on our books? How many communities that can barely afford to finance their schools and highway departments at the same time are going to bond themselves to build a generating facility?
Mr. Shumlin is both righteous and right to point out Vermont's double digit property tax increases since 2003. However, he is blatantly hypocritical when he implies that H.520 is somehow going to provide Yankee money to solve the tax problem.
He personally took the lead in ignoring the statewide demands for education and education tax reforms during the entire legislative session. Now he wants to tax a clean energy producer to solve the school funding crisis without ever considering that pouring more money into an already out of control education expense is only going to add to the spending spree.
The veto needs to be sustained. The governor has to drop his "prevent-defense" strategy of offering no thoughts on anything until the last minute. The Legislature needs to take a hard look at themselves and figure out what is wrong with defending the status quo of our antiquated property tax system. The Yankee tax bill is a Band-Aid solution to a serious illness. The collective leadership must stop posturing and work together to seek solutions to the conflicting questions of economic growth, energy consumption and the need to protect the quality of life we want to achieve.
Do we want ridgelines or windfarms? Do we want scenery or affordable housing? Do we want economic development or do we want only tourist support jobs? How much artisanal cheese can we consume to support the 10-cow dairies while the major dairy farms have trouble staying in business because corn now goes for ethanol instead of food production? These are only some of the inconvenient questions before us that, up to now, we have conveniently ignored.
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