New Bill In Senate Would Keep Vermont’s Energy Future Clean
A new bill in Vermont’s Senate would put Vermont’s goal of getting 90% of our energy from renewable sources by 2050 into law.

A new bill in Vermont’s Senate would put Vermont’s goal of getting 90% of our energy from renewable sources by 2050 into law.
“With the Senate’s approval, Rick Perry today joins a long list of cabinet members unabashedly hostile to the missions of their agencies, resistant to the laws Congress has charged them with administering, and unwilling to allow science to guide their decisions,” said CLF President Bradley Campbell. “This is more reckless than extreme partisanship and more dangerous than overblown rhetoric. It puts every American on notice that the rule of law is in peril.”
“Imagine you make the decision to save money by using a clothesline rather than a dryer, but at the end of the month you are billed for the energy you saved,” said Sean Mahoney, Director of CLF Maine. “That’s what the PUC has just done to every family and business that uses solar power. Revoking the incentive structure alone would have been outrageous, but to go one step further and actually charge us for electricity we’re not buying is downright criminal. Once again, we see this LePage-appointed commission kowtow to the whims of Big Gas and Big Oil while leaving the people of Maine out to dry.”
… The Conservation Law Foundation also expressed its disapproval of the new rules. “Imagine you make the decision to save money by using a clothesline rather than a dryer, but at the end of the month you are billed for the energy you saved,” Sean Mahoney, director of the foundation’s Maine Advocacy Center, said in… Continue reading Environmental groups to make hard push to reverse Maine’s new solar rules
The Conservation Law Foundation and Local 300 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers have filed motions for intervention before the state Public Service Board, which is considering a New York decommissioning company’s request to buy the Vernon nuclear plant. The organizations have very different interests in the sale: The South Burlington-based union local is… Continue reading Union, law foundation seek role in Vermont Yankee sale
For three years now, Big Gas has been spinning tall tales aimed at scaring you and me – and especially our local politicans – into locking in our addiction to dirty, polluting natural gas for decades to come. But their hype ignores the facts and the very real progress made over the past few years to avoid price spikes, keep the lights on, and tamp down our emissions of climate-damaging pollution.
But opponents of the plant say that renewable sources can fill in any need for new power in New England. The auction results show that there is a surplus of potential power supplies that can step in, according to Jerry Elmer, staff attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation. In the ISO-NE zone that includes Rhode… Continue reading Invenergy plant in Burrillville fails to sell power to regional grid at auction
Some state legislators are gunning for rooftop solar. Last year, New Hampshire legislators passed a bill that directed the Public Utilities Commission to open a proceeding to collect and analyze data to decide two things: First, whether the state needs a cap on the number of solar and other distributed clean energy installations permitted in… Continue reading Rooftop Solar under Threat in New Hampshire
“U.S. leadership on climate change is essential to protecting the future of our economy and the safety of our communities, and Rex Tillerson now has the mantle of providing that leadership,” said CLF President Bradley Campbell. “We must cautiously, if reluctantly, place our faith in his willingness to put the best interests of the nation above those of the industry he championed his entire career. And if he falters, we are ready to challenge him at every turn.”
“Invenergy is putting the cart before the horse by unveiling an unacceptable plan to take public water without first resolving the huge chunks missing from its power plant application,” said CLF attorney Max Greene. “The company’s plan to build enormous, expensive and unnecessary fossil fuel infrastructure flies in the face of state policy and public will, yet they continue to go forward with new plans that raise more questions than answers. It’s time for the State to recognize these repeated and glaring deficiencies and shut down this project once and for all.”