Here comes an unlikely champion of the environment. Well, one specific chunk of the environment anyway: the not-so-pristine area near I-89 Exit 16 in Colchester. The newborn Earth Defender is none other than R.L. “Skip” Vallee, noted Republican moneybags and owner of a chain of gas stations. (If you stop at Maplefields, some of your money is going in his pocket.)

Yes, the Skipster is all het up over Costco’s attempt to add a gas station to its Colchester store. And Skip, who owns a nearby Maplefields, insists it has nothing to do with the fact that Costco usually sells its gas at bargain prices. The Freeploid: (Don’t click unless you’re a subscriber or are willing to use up one of your ten July freebies.)

A check earlier this week of gas prices at Costcos in Connecticut and Massachusetts found gas prices to be 14-22 cents per gallon below the average price for a gallon of gas in those two states.

Ruh-roh. That’d be bad for Skip’s profit margin. His outfit is one of four companies that collectively own nearly 60% of Chittenden County’s gas stations, and have been enjoying substantially higher prices than the rest of the state. That fact prompted Bernie Sanders to call for a federal probe of gas pricing in northwest Vermont.

But Skip insists his opposition has nothing to do with his profits. Oh no, absolutely not!

Opponents, including fuel distributors R.L Vallee Inc. and Timberlake Associates, contend the Costco gas station would endanger an adjacent wetland and add to traffic congestion in the area, among other concerns.

…”Because Vallee’s property is at a significantly higher elevation than Costco’s property, there is a clear view of the project site from Vallee’s offices and gasoline station,” one R.L. Vallee filing stated. “Vallee is concerned about the aesthetics impacts of the project.”

Ah. He’s an aficionado of the natural scenery around Exit 16. You know, that parade of strip malls, restaurants, gas stations and chain motels? Yeah, that one.  

You’d think this ardent free-marketeer, this devout supporter of the Republican Party, would have a bit more dedication to open competition and a bit less concern about an already-degraded piece of freeway adjacency. You’d think he might feel a twinge of conscience about trying to drag out a permitting process when his party yammers constantly about gutting Act 250. But noooo, not when his own profits are at stake.

Skip’s pulled this little maneuver before, and managed to scuttle a proposed Costco station five years ago. As a result, he’s enjoyed five more years of cozy oligopoly.

And lest you wonder if a single Costco would have that much effect on gas prices, let’s travel down the highway to Middlebury, where the per-gallon price is 20-25 cents lower than in Burlington.

Bill Heffernan is one of the owners of Champlain Valley Plumbing and Heating in Middlebury and a purveyor of that elusive $3.40-per-gallon gasoline.

“Basically, we set the tone in Middlebury,” Heffernan says. “Whatever we go to, people follow.”

And if Bill Heffernan can have that much impact on the Middlebury market, Costco can do the same for the Burlington area. Or at least the area around Exit 16. To the lasting diminishment of Skip Vallee’s deep pockets.

Can somebody please give that poor crocodile a hanky?