MAIN HALL: Community Program on: the Affordable Heat Act

In even-numbered months, we provide a “Community Program” of public interest.  Generally, these include a presentation by a local organization of social interest, selected and presented by the Grange Lecturer.

All are welcome to attend these FREE programs, in person or via Zoom

Here’s the Zoom recording of our April 1st Program:

April 1st:  Discussing the “Affordable Heat Act”–in the VT House at the time.

Grange Lecturer Carl Etnier  put this program together and is the MC for this discussion:  This proposed bill is a major attempt to change the market for heating fuels for Vermont buildings.  Fossil fuels provide about three quarters of the energy to heat Vermont buildings, and they are costly; their prices are volatile; and they are polluting. The Affordable Heat Act is designed to harness the power of the market and the ingenuity of Vermonters at fuel providers to reduce dependency on these fossil fuels.  In the video above, we hear from different sides of the debate over this bill:  Washington District State senator Anne Watson is a sponsor of the bill, and John Brabant, from Vermonters for a Clean Environment gives us an opposing view.

Discussion by those physically present and those attending via Zoom is included in this video.

Video posted May 3, 2023.  Note that at the time of this video, the Affordable Heat Act had just “Crossed Over” from the Senate to the House, so it was debated and voted on in the House Energy and Environment Committee and the full House, and then by a Senate/House Conference Committee before the end of the legislative session, and sent to Gov. Scott on April 28th.   To view the current status of the bill, its legislative history and read the original and amended texts of the bill, check it out at the S.5 Bill Status page on the Vermont.gov website.