Vermont reaps $683,645 in carbon auction

January 2, 2009

Combating climate change will put more money in Vermont's pocket this month.

The state will take home $683,645 from the December auction of carbon dioxide emissions allowances by the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a consortium of 10 Northeastern states.RGGI's September auction -- the first in the United States -- earned Vermont $620,000, for a total that topped $1.3 million for 2008.

What's less clear is exactly how, and when, Vermont will spend the RGGI windfall to help Vermonters take energy-efficiency steps and reduce their fossil fuel use.

Vermont led the way in pledging to devote its RGGI earnings entirely to energy efficiency, but now lawmakers and the Douglas administration are at odds over the details of that program.

The administration sought bids that focused on helping low-income residents weatherize their homes. Legislators say the law they passed required a much broader effort that would help a range of homeowners and businesses reduce their energy use.

Vermont Public Interest Research Group asked the Public Service Board to intervene. The board held a meeting Wednesday to hear the disputants.

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Fight brews over new energy program

November 27, 2008

MONTPELIER -- A protracted battle over new energy-efficiency efforts ended in agreement in March between the Legislature and the Douglas administration: They would spend $3.68 million to help Vermonters button up their homes and businesses.

Eight months later, some of the architects of the plan don't think the product looks anything like it was supposed to.

"I'm a little astounded," Senate President Pro Tempore Peter Shumlin said. "The current course of the department is to defy the law," Shumlin said.

James Moore, clean-energy advocate for the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, went a step further. He asked the Public Service Board to intervene and require the state to put out a new request for proposals."You don't get to rewrite the law," Moore said. "The law says you've got to do this, and you're doing something different."

Steve Wark, who was consumer affairs director at the Public Service Department until he took over as Gov. Jim Douglas' spokesman this week, defended the description of the program. After consulting with various advocacy groups at two meetings, he said, it was clear that...

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VPIRG issues annual warning on toxic and dangerous toys

November 26, 2008

MONTPELIER – The Pony Land Scented Pony Pet seems innocent enough.

The little filly's golden mane comes with an adorable red barrette (shaped like a butterfly!); a little comb, included at no extra cost, lets little boys and girls style her pretty hair.

Pony Pet though, manufactured in China by a toymaker called JA-RU, Inc., contains heavy doses of a toxic chemical that can cause reproductive defects, low sperms counts and a host of other unpleasant side effects.

"People definitely have the impression that the government would not allow a product, particularly a toy, to be sold if it weren't safe," says Paul Burns, executive director of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group. "And the sad fact is that's just not true."

Toys like the Pony Pet and Silly Fish Squirters, available on toy store shelves around Vermont, have landed on the U.S. Public Interest Group's 23rd annual Trouble in Toyland report. Both products contain high levels of phthalates, test have shown. VPIRG also has set its sights on toys containing lead, notably cheap costume jewelry...

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VPIRG Issues Annual Toy Warning

Montpelier, Vermont - November 25, 2008

As people make their holiday shopping lists, environmental advocates are warning about hazards that may be lurking in kids' toys.

VPIRG released its 23rd annual "Trouble in Toyland" report. It says 18 children died from toy-related injuries in 2007.

Last year emergency rooms treated 80,000 children for choking on small objects. And toxins like lead and phthalates -- which can gradually build up in a child's system, can be found in many metal and plastic toys.

"With the choking stay away from small parts. With the toxins stay away from soft pliable plastic toys which have the plasticizers phthalates; stay away from small metal jewelry, costume jewelry, a lot of that has hazardous levels of lead in it," said Claire Howard, of VPIRG.

VPIRG says safe options are cloth, wood and non-plastic toys, and locally made toys not imported from unknown sources.

Read Trouble in Toyland Report here

Trouble in Toyland: What to Look Out For

November 25 2008

Just in time for the holiday shopping season, there's "Trouble in Toyland" again. Vermont's Public Interest Research Group, VPIRG, released its annual report on toys you should pay extra attention too. Before you head out to the malls, there are three hidden hazards to keep in mind.

"We go out to places where consumers shop all the time and just pick a slew of just really popular, common toys, and then test them," Claire Howard said, she's a Field Associate for VPIRG.

VPIRG's message is buyer beware. First thing to watch out for is dangerous toxins.

"One of the risks in children's toys is a chemical called phthalates, phthalates can be found in toys such as this popular Pony Land toy anywhere where you find that a toy has a characteristic of soft and pliable plastic," Howard said.

Howard says exposure to the toxin can lead to development or reproductive issues. Similar threats can be found with lead. It's the second...

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Consumer Group Finds Hazardous Toys

November 25, 2008

WASHINGTON -- A warning for parents this holiday season: a consumer watchdog group says it found hazardous toys on store shelves.

A consumer watchdog group warns of potentially dangerous toys on store shelves this holiday season, despite the passage of landmark toy safety legislation in August. Most of the concern centers on toys containing pthalates--chemicals linked to reproductive and developmental abnormalities.

The U.S. Public Interest Research Group sent 14 toys to the lab for testing and found high levels of toxic pthalates in two of them. Under a new law that takes effect in February, a pony that was test had pthalate levels 95 times the legal limit.

"It is banned in the new law. It should not be for sale after February 10, 2009," said Julie Vallese, with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. But those toys, and any others containing pthalates, will be sold until current inventories run out even after the law banning them takes effect. The CPSC said that's because the law does not apply retroactively.

"The manufacturers, I don't know if they've learned their lesson yet. The CPSC, instead of giving them a free pass, should...

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State's green ideas go nowhere

November 23, 2008

MONTPELIER — One year ago, Gov. Jim Douglas unveiled the recommendations of his Climate Change Commission and laid out ambitious plans to cut Vermont’s greenhouse gas emissions while building a “green economy.”

Three ideas stood at the center of those plans: appointment of a Vermont Climate Collaborative to guide research and action; creation of a “Vermont Green Standard” to regulate the multimillion-dollar carbon trading market and create a new business sector for the state; and sale of carbon credits from open land and state forests.

Twelve months later, the Green Standard idea has been abandoned.

Sale of carbon credits from standing forests remains a remote, perhaps receding, hope.

The Vermont Climate Collaborative will not hold its first meeting until next month.

The Douglas administration has taken smaller steps on other fronts since November 2007, including the harvest of more firewood from state forests and support of alternative energy research and testing projects.

But there is no evidence the state has made substantial progress toward — or will reach — the short-term goal set by the governor: Reducing greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

“We need to stop studying the things we might be able to do and start doing the things we know will help,” said James Moore, clean-energy advocate at the Vermont Public Interest Research Group.

Ernest Pomerleau, the Burlington real estate man who chaired the Climate Change Commission, was more optimistic.

“A lot of this stuff is ready for liftoff,” he said of the action steps recommended by the commission, and the new Climate Collaborative will ignite the engines. It will put Vermont’s best brainpower...

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