Global leaders convened in Paris on Monday in search of an international agreement to curb carbon emissions, but environmentalists in Vermont are pressing for action closer to home.
A wall of stacked white boxes on the steps of the Statehouse provided the visual backdrop for the latest call for a carbon tax in Vermont. Each of the 180 packages was filled with postcards, signed by Vermonters who say they support a tax on carbon pollution. A coalition of environmentalists hand-delivered the shipment to lawmakers Monday afternoon.
"Our thoughts are with the global leaders who are making important decisions for all of us. But we can't leave all the work to them. We have to do our share also," said Fran Putnam, chairwoman of the Weybridge Energy Committee.
Putnam is a member of Energy Independent Vermont, a coalition that includes environmental organizations like the Vermont Public Interest Research Group and Vermont Natural Resources Council, as well as renewable industry businesses and trade associations.
Last year, House lawmakers introduced two bills that seek a so-called "carbon tax" on gasoline, heating oil, natural gas, and other fossil fuels sold in Vermont. The Vermont Republican Party has savaged the proposals; GOP Chairman David Sunderland said the bills suggest Democrats are, "profoundly disconnected with the realities of struggling Vermonters."
Prominent Democrats distanced themselves from the legislation in the wake of the GOP attack.
"And that's why we need to keep bringing this up," Putnam says. "Eventually it's going to be like so many other things in Vermont, eventually it's just going to be accepted."
Putnam says the delivery of more than 25,000 postcards from people supporting the proposal should help renew momentum for the legislation.
"Our thoughts are with the global leaders who are making important decisions for all of us. But we can't leave all the work to them." - Fran Putnam, chairwoman of Weybridge Energy Committee
East Montpelier Rep. Tony Klein, however, says there's a reason the bills have stalled.
"The state's not ready yet," says Klein, chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources and Energy.
Klein says he supports a "pollution tax" on fuels that emit carbon dioxide. But he says the state is far from settling on a solution that works for voters.
The existing bills call for most of the revenue collected by a carbon tax to be redistributed back to Vermonters in the form of other tax cuts and tax refunds.
"I really think that Vermonters don't trust at this point that they will actually get [the money] back," Klein says.
Paul Burns, head of VPIRG, says the creation of a "carbon pollution tax" is only a small component of legislation that would lessen the state's dependence on fossil fuels, and redirect money spent on gasoline and oil back into the local economy.
"I think as that information gets out and the message is spread, then people will understand the concept of [the carbon tax], accept the concept of it, and want to move forward on it at some point." - Paul Burns, head of VPIRG
One of the bills calls for the creation of an Energy Independence Fund, which would use a portion of the revenue from the carbon tax to subsidize home weatherization, air source heat pumps, rooftop solar and the purchase of fuel-efficient vehicles.
Klein rejects that framework, and says he thinks that any money collected through a carbon tax needs to go back to residents in the form of tax cuts or rebates.
"I think as that information gets out and the message is spread, then people will understand the concept of [the carbon tax], accept the concept of it, and want to move forward on it at some point," Klein says. "But I am not in agreement with the mechanics of [the two bills in Montpelier]. And I think we're a long way off from discovering what the best set of mechanics that will, number one, work ... and that Vermonters will truly understand and embrace what it's actually doing for them."
Klein also says Vermont can't go it alone, and that any carbon tax bill needs to be contingent on other states in the region adopting the same policies.
"Exxon-Mobile isn't writing a check. BP isn't writing a check. It's the people of Vermont who will be writing a check to Montpelier to pay for all of the things they have concocted in this bill." - Matt Cota, head of the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association
Matt Cota, head of the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association, says supporters of the tax say they want to target polluters. But he says it's regular Vermonters that will pay the price.
"Exxon-Mobile isn't writing a check. BP isn't writing a check. It's the people of Vermont who will be writing a check to Montpelier to pay for all of the things they have concocted in this bill," Cota says.
All four candidates for governor have voiced opposition to the carbon-tax legislation in Montpelier.
