MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – Gov. Phil Scott’s veto of a bill that would have expanded renewable energy facilities across Vermont is drawing praise from some clean energy activists and criticism from others.
House Bill 710 sought to simplify the parameters around renewable energy sites to make it easier for developers to add more energy sources, like solar panels, to sites where they already exist.
The bill passed both the House and Senate before Scott struck it down last week. He said the bill went “too far,” citing the potential expansion of wind turbines in Vermont and a lack of community input.
The lawmakers who wrote the bill, Kathleen James and Scott Campbell, said they spent two years taking public testimony on the issue and called any mention of wind power a “red herring.”
“Nothing about H.710 changed the underlying permit and public participation process about how we would cite solar or wind at all,” James said. “But the most important thing Vermonters need to understand about this veto letter is that wind is regulated by incredibly strict sound rules.”
Renewable Energy Vermont Director Peter Sterling said he was confused by the governor’s action, saying it is impossible to build more wind turbines in Vermont right now because of restrictions on sound.
“None of us really understand how this language would open up Vermont to more wind, because we have a wind sound rule, the quietest in the country,” Sterling said. “So, any proposal, whether this law is in place or not, you’d still have to pass the wind sound test.”
On the contrary, Annette Smith, executive director of Vermonters for Clean Environment, is in favor of the veto.
“Wind was never discussed as part of it,” Smith said. “And the environmental land use aspects of what this change means were never discussed in either of the environment committees.”
Smith also stressed concerns about a lack of public input in the bill’s creation.
“We want solar, but not here and not this way,” Smith said. “And so instead of developers coming in and blindsiding a community, we need to revise the process so that it is collaborative and so that we are building it in the right place.”
James and Campbell said the legislation did not change the process for community input. Though the two are not running for re-election, they hope the state legislature will reintroduce H.710 in the next legislative year.
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