Douglas cancels meeting with lawmakers on energy bill
MONTPELIER, Vt. --Gov. Jim Douglas canceled a meeting set for Wednesday with key lawmakers on an energy bill, his spokesman saying the Democratic leader of the Senate was playing politics with the issue.
"We're canceling this meeting because it's quite clear to us that Sen. (Peter) Shumlin (D-Windham) is not interested in negotiating in good faith. He's more interested in scoring political points and turning this issue into a media circus," Douglas spokesman Jason Gibbs said of the Senate's president pro tem.
Shumlin issued a statement Wednesday saying he and his Democratic allies "are incredibly disappointed that the governor is now refusing to meet with us regarding H. 520. Vermont needs Gov. Douglas to show leadership on the challenge of climate change and the economic opportunities it presents."
Shumlin had championed legislation designed to promote new efficiency measures in heating homes and other buildings as part of a broader effort to save Vermonters' money spent on energy and curb emissions tied to global climate change.
He was to join Douglas for a meeting at the Woodstock Inn on Wednesday afternoon, along with the lead House sponsor, Rep. Robert Dostis, D-Waterbury and chairman of the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee.
Douglas vetoed the energy bill earlier this month, saying he didn't like a tax increase it would have imposed on the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, nor the structure of the program lawmakers envisioned to implement the efficiency measures.
The veto set up a July 11 showdown at which lawmakers will gather in special session to decide whether to overturn it and a second bill rejected by the governor on campaign finance reform. Prospects for a veto override looked likely in the Senate; much less so in the House, where Democrats' control is more tenuous.
Acknowledging that reality, Shumlin and Dostis issued a statement Tuesday saying that after the veto override vote, they would move to suspend legislative rules to pass the bill without the Vermont Yankee tax, in hopes of gaining the governor's support. They said they would figure out in January when lawmakers reconvene in regular session how to make up money the Vermont Yankee tax would have raised.
Costs of the new energy-conservation efforts have been pegged at $5 million to $7 million a year.
Douglas immediately rejected the lawmakers' proposal, calling it "irresponsible." He complained that it still contained provisions calling for the new efficiency efforts to be modeled on Efficiency Vermont, the award-winning statewide efficiency utility that has trimmed an estimated $207 million from Vermonters' electric bills since 2001.
Instead, Douglas favors an expanded weatherization program, which currently helps low-income Vermonters cut their energy bills.
Dostis on Wednesday defended Efficiency Vermont as a model for the new "all-fuels efficiency utility," saying lawmakers' intent had been to build on a program that had worked well.
