The Culture Of "Can't Do"

The Rutland Herald recently published an editorial lamenting Vermont's lassitude in dealing with its manifest and urgent problems.  The editorial singled out the looming winter heating crisis and the lack of action where there is obvious opportunity:

Most recently, as Vermonters scramble to find ways to heat their homes this winter, we're not seeing much action on that front, either, short of this weekend's tax holiday. Pellet stoves are flying out of showrooms and there's an entrepreneurial opportunity staring the state in the face: We have trees and winters. We don't have a pellet plant. Those are in upstate New York, in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Quebec, but not here. Starting to see a pattern?

As with any potential opportunity, there's also competition. Les Otten, formerly the majority owner of the Killington ski resort, is pushing hard to build pellet plants and stove plants in Maine, then get state assistance to put the stoves made in the state using fuel grown in the state to heat the homes, schools and businesses in the state.
 
Where's Vermont's answer? Given his track record, Otten is long on vision but not so great on the follow through, and we should collectively be able to develop our own program before we all wind up heating our homes with Maine stoves, burning Maine pellets, trucked through our forests by guys working out of Maine. But there's no visible urgency from either the Legislature or the administration, beyond pushing to get more LIHEAP funding from the federal government and moving more tax dollars into Efficiency Vermont.

We'll second the Herald on the general lack of initiative that seems to have infected Vermont.  In fact, we've been saying the same thing, more or less, for some time now.   Here, for example.

But leave aside who said what first, what about the specific criticism on the matter of heating homes with wood pellets?  Turns out that there has been an initiative put forward on precisely this matter.  It was first put forward on June 17th.   Advanced again on June 27th.   And then, again, yesterday . 

The initiative, however, is handicapped by its parentage.  Seems it was put forward by (hide the children) the Republicans.  Which might explain why it hasn't made much news.  Also why the legislature's Joint Fiscal Committee has not even deigned to consider the proposal.   

So ... as it turns out, somebody is actually coming forward with proposals for doing something about the problems facing the state and, in this case, one of  the most compelling of those problems.  But those behind the proposal lack the proper pedigree and, thus, their proposal is ignored by the party in power.  And also, it should be said, by the press that carries that party's water. 

Meanwhile, Vermont pins its hopes on the three wise men, down in Washington, hoping they can wheedle some additional federal money to help us out this winter. 

Is that, one wonders, really the best we can do?

Comments

[Greg Decker]

The 'best' we can do is to let the markets function. More government meddling is perhaps the 'worst' we can do.

If New York, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Quebec all have pellet plants and we don't its not because of something our government didn't do.

[Rich Lachapelle]

We have more damn trees in VT than we know what to do with but propose cutting some down to convert into pellet fuel for heating homes and:
Oh my, what about the woolly breasted caterpillar and the
bicknells thrush, and make sure you dont disturb any Abenaki bones or put silt in a brook etc etc...
It's hard enough to put up a mailbox in VT without someone complaining of their viewshed being compromised, just where the hell would a wood pellet plant be located? The NIMBY's would come out of the woodwork to regulate
it to death before one backhoe
poked into the ground.
Point well noted: since it was a Republican-hatched idea, it gets no notice by the media in this moonbat-dominated utopian theme
park we call Vermont.

[katie adams]

Hey Geoff,
Maybe, no, you definitely , did not know that there is a pellet mill in progress. Your neighbor Katie , Chris and Pete have proposed this initiative. Montpelier is working directly with us. They are doing something about this crisis. I will update you with our progress.
Vermont Wood Pellet Co.,LLC

[GreggB]

I'd love to see the Vermont wood pellet LLC do a blow by blow series of their permitting experience here on the tiger. Unless of course it would upset the puppet handlers in Montpelier.

[jay Hathaway]

I'm excited! I'm finally on "Tiger".

I am very aware of Chris, Katie and Pete's attempt to develop a pellet plant. I too would like to ask that they maintain a journal of their journey through governmental process, policy and procedure.

If done well it will be a roadmap for others to follow and not only in the pellet industry.