Messages from Montpelier: Rep. Michael Morgan shares thoughts on affordability of climate change cost recovery bill ... - Milton Independent

Messages from Montpelier: Rep. Michael Morgan shares thoughts on affordability of climate change cost recovery bill for Vermonters | Columns | miltonindependent.com

April 30th- May 3rd, 2024, Legislative Report

This past week the House passed S.259, An act relating to climate change cost recovery. The bill attempts to collect money from “big oil” for their part in contributing to climate change. Not only that, but it would also consider the covered period of liability to be retroactive to January 1, 1995, an almost 30-year period! Here we go again; becoming the first in the nation to pass legislation regarding “climate cost recovery.”

Folks, this is another affordability issue. This bill purports to make “big oil” pay for their part in increasing the carbon footprint of Vermont. The State of Vermont will attempt to “charge” oil companies for disasters (floods, hurricanes etc.) that they feel are caused by fossil fuel usage. The oil companies will sue. The state will counter sue. This legislation will be dragged through the courts for years. In the end...once again, the end user, we Vermonters will pay. Vermonters will pay for all of the State’s legal fees in defending the lawsuits that will undoubtedly drag on for years.

Additionally, Vermonters will also pay an extra seventy cents per gallon of heating oil due to the passage of the Clean Heat Standard Bill passed last year. I simply could not support a bill based on the premise that we should look back thirty years to punish companies who provided heating oil, gasoline, etc., in order for the people of Vermont to live and work.

Vermonters have reduced their consumption of gasoline and diesel fuel in the last two decades. We are doing our part. Most of us feel we should be good stewards of our environment. We rely heavily on fossil fuels to run our cars, farm machinery (that produces our food), highway equipment to pave our roads and plow our roads, emergency vehicles (police, fire, and rescue) – and the list goes on and on. But, until there are long term, viable, cost-effective alternatives available, we will have a dependence on some level of fossil fuel usage unless we are willing to revert to living life like most in the world did prior to 1900.

This is not the way Vermont should be doing business. Once again Vermont is doing its part with reduced consumption. This bill will ask Vermonters - the end users - to bear the brunt of this monetarily as you can be guaranteed that these costs with the actions of this bill will be borne on the backs of hard-working Vermonters. This will cost Vermonters.

As always, I can be reached at: mmorgan@leg.state.vt.us or 802-881-7835.

Representative Michael Morgan