A new report commissioned by the Department of Public Service has become the latest flashpoint in the battle over climate policy in Vermont.

Last year, the Democratically controlled Legislature advanced a climate initiative, called the clean heat standard, that seeks to reduce carbon emissions in the state’s heating sector.

Republican Gov. Phil Scott vetoed the measure before being overridden by lawmakers. And he said during a press conference Thursday that his opposition has been vindicated by an analysis that pegs the costs of transitioning to a thermal sector that meets Vermont’s emission-reduction targets at more than $9 billion.

“I’ve always believed affordability concerns should be taken seriously, because they’re significant,” Scott said. “We need to be thoughtful and realistic and make sure we’re not hurting the Vermonters that can least afford it.”

The analysis was commissioned by the Department of Public Service and conducted by a Rhode Island-based technical consulting company called NV5. The report’s authors say the $9.6 billion figure does not represent “actual program costs” needed to implement the clean heat standard. And a more detailed cost analysis — including estimated impacts on per-gallon fuel costs — won’t arrive until Vermont’s Public Utility Commission completes its work early next year.

Scott’s Commissioner of Public Service June Tierney, however, said the report confirms that there will be a “significant cost” to Vermonters if lawmakers vote to enact the clean heat standard during the next legislative session.

“The clean heat standard would require Vermonters to incur costs themselves to achieve societal benefits that accrue globally,” Tierney said Thursday. “Now this may be good. This may be selfless. This may be even noble … But that doesn’t mean everyday Vermonters who are struggling with inflation and rising property taxes can bear it.”

Jared Duval is a member of the Vermont Climate Council, which has endorsed the clean heat standard as a necessary tool for the state to meet emissions-reduction mandates that were enshrined in statute in 2020.

While the latest report forecasts $9.6 billion in upfront costs over the next 25 years to reduce thermal-sector emissions, Duval said it also predicts $11.7 billion in “societal benefits” as a result of that work.

He said Vermonters face a threshold decision about their energy future. And he likened that choice to someone dealing with a leaky roof.

“Is there a cost to fixing that roof? Absolutely,” Duval said. “Are the benefits of not having water damage and mold throughout your house worth that initial upfront investment of fixing your roof? Absolutely.”

The benefits of moving away from expensive fossil fuels, and reducing carbon emissions, according to Duval, warrant the investments needed to reduce energy demand, and transition away from fuels such as heating oil and propane.

“We are seeing that climate destabilization is here and it is wreaking massive costs on Vermonters and people throughout the world,” he said. “And so we do have a responsibility to make upfront investments that are going to reduce … both the energy costs that Vermonters face and the damages of climate disruption. That’s part of the responsibility here.”

Addison County Sen. Chris Bray, the Democratic chair of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources, said the clean heat standard Scott is warning against doesn’t yet exist.

“Right now, the governor talks about it like it’s a plane that’s taxiing to the end of the runway and it’s about to take off in January and it’s about to hit everyone,” Bray said.

Bray said the proposal is in fact a work in progress, and that lawmakers will use analyses such as the one produced by NV5, and a proposed clean heat framework from the Public Utility Commission that’s forthcoming, to inform legislation that will get an up-or-down vote in Montpelier next year.

“We will take the information we get, and we won’t be starting from scratch … but we have to write another whole bill to move forward a program,” he said.

Bray said Scott is using his “bully pulpit” to make the case preemptively against what could be an important and beneficial piece of climate legislation.

“He’s gone to the strongest lever he can apply, the level of inducing fear,” he said. “And that isn’t conducive to having a conversation that will help us solve this problem together.”

The governor said Thursday that he’s especially concerned about the implications of the clean heat standard on low-income Vermonters. And since approximately 70% of Vermonters heat their homes with fossil fuels, he said, a majority of residents will be impacted by any plan that has the effect of increasing fuel costs.

“From my perspective, this is starting to look a lot like single-payer,” said Scott, referencing the ill-fated health care reform plan that legislative Democrats pursued, and then abandoned, during the 2010s. “And we should learn from the mistakes of the past, because Vermonters deserve better.”

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MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – Big budget decisions lie ahead for Vermont lawmakers in the next legislative session. They will face tough choices on the cost of schools and the cost of fighting climate change.

Gov Phil Scott used his weekly news briefing on Thursday to sound the alarm on these issues. The Clean Heat Standard and education finance reform are two big issues we’ve tracked for years and the governor says Vermonters can’t afford where we’re headed.

Vermont’s governor says a landmark thermal energy bill years in the making– which is yet to be voted on by lawmakers– is proving to be too complex and costly. Much like health care reform was a decade ago.

“From my perspective, this is starting to look a lot like single-payer,” said Gov. Phil Scott, R-Vermont.

Last year, lawmakers overrode Scott’s veto on the Clean Heat Standard, a program designed to ween Vermonters off fossil fuels and instead invest in more eco-friendly forms of home heating, like heat pumps and biofuels.

Questions about the cost to consumers for implementing the new program have sparked political acrimony. But we now have more clarity: according to a new study published by the Department of Public Service, a potential Clean Heat Standard designed to meet the requirements of the Global Warming Solutions Act over the next 25 years would take investments to the tune of just shy of $10 billion.

“There’s still many unanswered questions like who pays for what,” the governor said.

Scott and his team say a shortage of contractors to pull it off is another concern.

“Only three states are even thinking about this. Why does Vermont have to be first?” Vt. Public Service Commissioner June Tierney said.

But some say Scott’s concerns are misplaced because changing the way we heat our homes and businesses will be net positive to the economy.

“This study is saying the benefits of doing that– $12 billion in benefits– outweigh the costs by $3 billion over the next 25 years,” said Jared Duval, who serves on Vermont’s Climate Council and is with the Energy Action Network.

He says many aren’t focusing on the long-term savings of ditching fossil fuels, adding we still don’t know what that will do to the price of a gallon of fuel oil which will come in a study due in December.

“We have to have an honest fact-based conversation and not be distracted by numbers, by the fossil fuel industry and their lobbyists,” Duval said.

At the same time, the Scott administration is also raising red flags about the upcoming school budget season and another potential looming property education property tax spike. In a letter to school boards this week, Scott’s team estimates even if school districts keep spending flat, it’s estimated Vermont could see a 7% average property tax hike after this year’s 14% increase.

“We have to prepare ourselves for what’s going to happen in the not-too-distant future about another December first letter that will show another increase,” Scott said.

A key commission is expected to make recommendations on short- and long-term education cost containment strategies before the session in January.

These two big issues come down the pike in January when the Legislature reconvenes. But it remains to be seen whether there will be any shifts in the political leanings of the Legislature after voters go to the polls in November.

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A former employee with the Vermont Department of Children & Families is charged with sexually assaulting a minor in her care.

According to WPTZ, 31-year-old Sonja Herman, of Swanton, was charged with sexual assault in July after the Chittenden Unit for Special Investigations received a report from DCF that she had engaged in a sexual relationship with an underage person in the agency’s custody.

The Chittenden Unit for Special Investigations said they were notified by DCF in October of 2023 that Herman had sexually abused a juvenile for several years while working with him in her role as a family services worker for the agency. Herman was a licensed foster parent with two foster children at the time they learned of the abuse.

Herman was cited with a sexual abuse charge on July 31 and was arraigned Thursday. She was released on conditions prohibiting her from supervising or providing care for children under the age of 18.

If convicted, she faces a minimum sentence of three years in prison up to life in prison, along with fines up to $25,000.