Every week the Vermont Natural Resources Council puts out a short “Climate Dispatch” video interviewing one or another special interest activist posing as a Representative of the public.
Articles tagged as
Rob Roper
Anti-Fossil Fuel Lobbyist Caught in Hot Mic Moment…
Peter Sterling, Executive Director of Renewable Energy Vermont and one of the chief nit-wits in Montpelier lobbying for every policy imaginable to force you and me to cut our carbon footprints down to stone age levels (because of the “existential climate crisis”), was caught on a hot mic — during a Climate Council meeting no less!! — gleefully making plans for a spur-of-the-moment ski trip to Chamonix, France.
House Passes Renewable Energy Standard Amidst Cloud of Baloney
This week, the House voted in favor of H.287, an act relating to the Renewable Energy Standard, by a vote of 99-39, with eleven members absent. Even with a half-dozen or so Democrats joining all of the Republicans in voting NO, it looks like the Democratic Party leadership has twisted enough arms, if everyone were present, … Read more
Ignore Voters, Dictate to Media, Threaten to De-Platform Republican Lawmakers
If Democrat Senators got an earful from their constituents about rising property taxes, rising crime, and the cost of housing while they were home, it was nothing like what they heard from Senate President Pro Tem.
Vermont Must Cap Individual Property Tax Increases
The massive property tax increase coming our way as the result of an education funding system gone out of wildly control poses the very real threat of forcing some – perhaps many – Vermonters out of their homes. It will certainly cause painful choices for household budgets, making it even harder make ends meet in the Green Mountain State.
Will Legislators Fix Their Clean Heat Standard Catastrophe?
Last spring, it looked like the Clean Heat Standard (S.5/Act 18) was headed for a second successful veto by Governor Scott when Senator Jane Kitchel (D-Caledonia) rescued the “Rube Goldberg” carbon tax on home heating fuels from the abyss by inserting a so-called “check back” clause into the bill.
So, It’s Okay to Poison the Children Now?
It was only a few years ago that Vermont lawmakers were bragging that thanks to them, Vermont had adopted the lowest acceptable threshold for PCBs (a potential carcinogen found in certain pre-1980s building materials) in schools – a level significantly lower than what the federal EPA deems safe (4000% lower!).
Plastic Bag Ban Backfires on Environment
As folks may recall, back in 2019, banning so-called single-use plastic bags was all the rage in the radical leftist environmental circles, so naturally, the sociopathic control freaks in the Vermont legislature had to have one – the legislative equivalent of that year’s Cabbage Patch doll. So, we got our bag ban! So did New … Read more
Bad Information Leads to Bad Policy
Confirmation bias is something we all need to be wary of. We all tend to look for things that support our presupposed notions. It’s a dangerous psychological trap that it takes some intellectual discipline to combat. It requires listening to and understanding counterarguments. This is not a discipline practiced very often – if ever – … Read more
The Democrat Solution to High Property Taxes Is… More Higher Taxes!
Since attaining supermajority status in Montpelier, the Democrats’ education policy can be explained as “give the government school monopoly (the VTNEA, superintendents association, etc.) whatever they want!”
For the Children: Ban Flavored Tobacco, but Not Flavored Pot, Legalize Drug Dens (No Age Limits)
If you want to know why Vermont is in such terrible shape on so many fronts, it is because the people we have elected to make important decisions for us are totally unmoored from any rational approach to problem-solving. They are devoid of any guiding principle, barring an intense desire to get their hands on our money and spend it as they see fit, which is usually not in a fit way.
Clean Heat Standard Exploding on the Launch Pad
The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) is the state entity charged with writing the rules for and overseeing the Clean Heat Standard (S.5/Act 18). Their first main task in this role was to create a registry of all fuel dealers in Vermont, collecting data on exactly how much fossil fuel is used in the thermal sector, where it comes from, and where it ends up.
State Senator Melts Down After Learning She Can Only Vote Herself a 42% Pay Raise.
Voter anger over the VT Democrats 2023 bill to double their own pay and give themselves a generous benefits package on top has led to some backpedaling here in 2024. The latest version of the new pay raise bill would only give lawmakers a 42% pay raise (about $6000).
The Last Democrat Pay Raise Bill Was Greedy. This One’s Also Corrupt.
Last year, Vermont Democrats and Progressives put forward a bill (S.39) to raise legislative pay by over double, plus a generous benefits package that regular Vermonters working a similar part-time job would not qualify for. Governor Scott vetoed the bill, which passed the House 102-44 and the Senate 19-10 largely along party lines.
My Constituents Want School Choice and Must Be Stopped!
On January 10th, Rep. Laura Sibilia (I-Dover) introduced H.634 – An act relating to school closures and the designation of a public school to serve as the public school of the district. It is another salvo against Vermont’s 150-year-old school choice system, “tuitioning,” and the independent schools that thrive – along with their students – as a result of this highly popular and effective program.
House Democrats Pass BYOD State Supported Drug Dens
Democrats in the Vermont House voted on Wednesday to spend $2 million to set up a pilot program establishing “safe injection sites” for addicts (H.72) – a misnomer, as it turns out as floor testimony revealed there are multiple ways users ingest their drugs at these facilities.
State Senator Does His Best to Paraphrase Principal Skinner’s “No, it’s The Children Who Are Wrong”
The first meeting of the Senate Natural Resources & Energy Committee in 2024 consisted of a round-robin series of members sharing their priorities and wish lists for the new session.
When Is Someone Paying More Than “Their Fair Share”?
We hear politicians spout it all the time when they are raising our taxes: “We’re just making them (of course not you) pay their fair share.” But what exactly is one’s “fair share,” and at what point can one be considered to be paying MORE than his or her “fair share”?
Climate Council Can’t Decide Which Tax It Likes Best
First question: Why do we even have a Climate Council at this point? Why have we ever had one? All these twenty-three (twenty-two, really, because the corrupt Speaker of the House has refused for over a year to appoint a representative from the Fuel Dealers as required by law) unelected, self-important bloviators do is sit … Read more