Act 62 is pre-K funding (http://education.vermont.gov/new/html/pgm_earlyed/prekindergarten.html).

Shumlin: supports it and wants to go further and redirect money to the system from other areas.  Good answer focusing on money and funding; for every dollar spent on early childhood care, we save $10+ down the line.  

Dunne: when you do early childhood education, you save money in the next 2-3 years on special ed.  Is getting into specifics about how it can happen, talking about freeing up resources.  Dunne is talking about foundations and is talking about how small the number of children in early childcare ages really is and how easy it would be to find the resources to fund them all well.

Racine: “when one of is Governor, the cap will come off”  “Where does the money come from?  That’s a tough question in this economy.  I’d love to promise you that next year we’ll have a perfect system.  It’s not going to work that way.  But I can tell you that it can be a priority.”  (that may not be a perfect quote).  Racine knows his stuff on this question and is less willing to make a promise than the other candidates, but is talking in ways I really respect– it takes all of us, not just a governor who supports it.  Job #1 is to improve the economy and then we can make early childhood a priority.

The event begins @1:30 with six candidates for governor.  Only major candidates missing are Dubie and Markowitz.  I’ll be live blogging as best I can though I can’t find a power outlet so I can’t promise I can stay online for the whole session.  

This is not an attempt at journalism.  I have direct connections with the organization hosting this event, both personal and professional.  I make no claims at being objective about these issues or any candidate.  If you feel as though I am not doing you, your issues, or the candidate you support justice, you are welcome to attempt your own live blog.  

Rather than updating this entry as it goes on, I will conduct the live blog in the comments.

 Brian Dubie is pre-certified, for Category III landing approaches. “I don’t have to call the FAA for a permit” He wants to handle environmental enforcement and permitting in a similar way.

Once again reaching deeply into his stock of pre-certified examples he addresses this question from the Free Press: When the interests of economic growth and environmental protection are in direct conflict, which carries more weight?

In my job as an airline captain I am regulated by the FAA. I am certified to make a “Category III approach” — meaning I can land my aircraft in zero visibility and zero ceiling (clouds). Because I am pre-certified by the FAA when I am making an approach on a dark and stormy night, I don’t have to call the FAA and ask for a permit to land the plane*[see Dubie made easy below]….

I look at many environmental permits the same way. First, there is no room for error. But there is room for simplification.

If we certified engineers and architects, contractors, materials and best practices — if we required regular recertification — and if the penalty for noncompliance is loss of certification, we could streamline and speed up the process and devote more resources to enforcement. That’s the right way to target our resources. It’s also a responsible way to grow our economy.

Target our resources and let pre-certified engineers, architects and contractors handle the new streamlined process. Kind of like the Mineral Management Service and their de-facto pre-certifying of the oil drilling industry. MMS followed wholesale a set of best practices adopted directly from the American Petroleum Institute.

Evidence that the oil and gas industry had captured MMS abounds: oil and gas company employees filled out official inspection forms in pencil for the MMS inspectors to trace over in pen; the industry cut and pasted Environmental Assessments from drilling projects in other parts of the world with no oversight from MMS (as evidenced by the inclusion of walruses — a cold water species which lives in Alaska — as a species of concern in the Gulf of Mexico); and MMS adopted wholesale a set of "best practices" for oil and gas drilling straight from the American Petroleum Institute, and then made these best practices only suggestions

* Dubie made easy: For those who do not have FAA Category III approach clearances and may be having trouble following Dubie’s reasoning:  People with drivers licenses don’t have to get a permit from the state each time they park their car. No room for error and always room to simplify?  

Last year, I talked about the way that VY was gaming its numbers by comparing two different measuring techniques and treating them as the same.  Apparently that’s not the only numbers problem with VY.

First, from the Department of Health’s Website:

Vermont Yankee officials also updated the situation regarding soils removed during well drilling operations and site excavations. Approximately 310,000 pounds of soil and other solid waste from the groundwater contamination investigation have been packed into 10 tractor-trailer like containers for shipment to a licensed radioactive waste disposal facility.

Then from the Brattleboro Reformer:

…When the leak of tritiated water was discovered, the public was told by Entergy, which owns and operates Yankee, it would need to dispose of 240 cubic feet of earth from the excavation around what was determined to be the source of the leak.

If a cubic foot of dirt weighs on average 40 pounds, that’s only 9,600 pounds. So where did the other 300,400 pounds come from?

Now, far be it from me to accuse anyone of anything here.  I’m not sure whether that 310,000 figure is due to a… “miscommunication” or simply a lie.  If, however, I were asked directly, I’d suggest that it’s more likely just the nature of the sloppiness with which VY and the Department of Health have handled this whole situation: not paying close attention to figures and information, making statements without fact-checking.  Honestly, I don’t know who to blame for this particular mistake, but at this point I don’t much care.  The administration has coddled VY and VY, at least until this year, seemed to think they could get away with pretty much anything.  

This is what I call the Mike Tyson syndrome: you tell someone for years that they can get away with pretty much anything: you cover for them.  You clean up after their mistakes (after all, they’re your bread and butter).  And then suddenly they bite someone’s ear off.  It’s hard to separate culpability at this point, between the administration and VY, because it’s been mutually assured deception all along.  

Having just received word about this and having a copy and permission to share by the author, Em Peyton, here it is; I will update and provide further details as they are shared with me:

“Now comes Emily Peyton, Pro SE, Independent Gubernatorial Candidate, a resident of Windham County in Vermont, in the power vested in my person by the 500 signers of the petition to place me on the ballot, and makes the following complaint against the named defendants above.

Whereas: it can be safely assumed that these signers desired to hear my views, and I have the duty and the responsibility to at least these 500 people of Vermont to participate in public forums, to openly criticize our methods of governance and offered such solutions as I have long and deliberately pondered and studied, at the expense of my personal productive time.  Further the newspapers that discriminate against me, and the radio stations that do the same and the forums and  debate hosts that (plan to) exclude me, and the television news that suppress any mention of my platform through the assumption that my movement to the Governor’s seat is bound to fail for the lack of funds, or for my choice to serve as an independent and not affiliate with either the Democrats, Republicans, or Progressives, or for my perceived incompetence due to my choice not to participate in campaigns for political office heretofore, or for my gender, or for whatever reason they may have for presupposing failure to win the election as reason to fail to cover my platform completely, is guilty of practicing unfair and illegal suppression, censorship and bias , which in turn causes damage to the people of Vermont by withholding the full complement of information that the People of Vermont absolutely need in order to make a full and informed decision prior to their vote in a few short months in November  2010.

Whereas: the media, the press, the newspapers have their freedoms of press specifically;  to openly and fully criticize government, and to question the authority that is vested in that governing body, to keep the system transparent, honest and fair. They should not be abusing that freedom to withhold information of one candidate form the public through censorship, suppression, ridicule, or lack of complete coverage.  THE COST OF COMPLETE COVERAGE OF AND FOR EACH CANDIDATE IS NOMINAL, thus each candidate that has taken it upon themselves and received the support of the required numbers of people as signers to be legitimately placed on the ballot should have equal inches of coverage in the newspaper, in her own words as well as the colored words of the journalists and editors of said newspapers.  The Radio station should give equal numbers of interviews and equal time of news stories, now should Deb Markowitz through her position as Secretary of state be free to exclude candidate form any advertisements with the stamp of her office upon in, nor should she utilize the money of the people garnered through their taxes to prepare materials to distribute for her reelection, nor should Peter welch, or any other candidate who is currently earning a living as a public servant be permitted to utilize the money of the People of Vermont  for the creation of materials to perpetuate their status as servant.

Whereas: Emily Peyton is aware that the FCC rule is supposed to establish an atmosphere of fairness in the media with regard to election coverage, however, as in many laws created by lawmakers to give the appearance of fairness while actually perpetuating an unfairness, the rule, by its exceptions affords no fairness whatsoever.  Its purpose therefore is empty; creating the appearance of fairness where none exists.  

Whereas: corporation’s ore not People, and cannot enjoy the freedoms of speech and press as a flesh and blood real Person; they do not take the responsibility of a flesh and blood person nor the risks of having their entire person subjected to incarceration and interment. Therefore since their entire body cannot be placed into custody for the wrongs (they, as flesh and blood persons, as a group or a clique) – in other words since they cannot in their entirety be jailed at a moment’s notice they do not take the risks that a flesh and blood person must and therefore should not be afforded the privileges that a soul of flesh and blood shall.

Whereas: the department of Corrections acts illegally to prevent the flow of complete information to the people of Vermont who are held against their will in incarceration. They, the People who are incarcerated have the right to the information that will allow them to vote according to their desire for leadership, and given the propensity to the press and media to predetermine elections through the coverage of a few career politicians or lack of coverage for the humble candidates, and the exclusion of the same by hosts of public forums is unfair, and illegal.

Whereas: the flow of information is crucial to a free and informed society. Our freedoms depend on it. Too often we have permitted external authority to limit these freedoms in the form of lawmakers, always that external authority if perpetuated by members of the bar and inordinately wealthy People.

Whereas: the fact that and how I, complainant Emily Peyton  am willing to serve  People and because I have the mandate to do so by and through the 500 who have chosen to sign the petition to get on the ballot for Governor  creates in an of itself the duty and responsibility to participate in every public debate and forum. Those 500 people, it can be safely assumed, desired to hear her. They want access to her views, her viewpoints, her solutions, plans and intentions. They should not be prevented from the aid of her wisdom when they approach the ballot box in November.

Whereas: I hereby request a trial by jury, and damages in the sum of the 20,000,000.00; twenty million dollars. This sum is large because the future of our state (and Nation) is hanging in the balance. Our state and its relationship to the nation is in such a critical stages is its overall relationship to the very Earth itself, that no amount of money can repair the damage that will follow should the named defendants be permitted to carry on their censorship, suppression, minimization or repression of platform information from the people who must use their sole and single votes to collectively repair the future of the state to be in accordance with their  desire through the representation they choose to carry out their goals.

 Whereas:: the complainant, Emily Peyton claims herein the duty and the responsibility to make this claim public and the duty to return the power of governance to the People as much as possible to restore the voice of the meek and restore a healthy balance of respect that has been put out of whack by the consistent, and determined and pernicious and greedy, and unfair, and outrageous, and gross usurpation of wealth AND freedoms from the meek people.

Whereas: these same ruling classes have brought our very world to the brink of extinction, our entire earth is imperiled for they have behaved with greed too often where compassion belonged.  They have prevented industry and technology from coming into fruition that would free the people from indebtedness to corporate power in its myriad of manifestations; they have dominated the media, and performed in full intention means of brainwashing the people, they have perverted the political process to include only those willing to perpetuate the inequity through ownership of the media by a very, very slim segment of people, in fact barely a handful. Their domination of the agricultural scene is killing the earth and her meek; they have created a total corruption of the experience and honor of being human.

Whereas: through the two party system and its participation the ruling class and the overly wealthy have divided the will of the People and perpetuated the transfer of wealth to an ever narrowing pinnacle of individual people. The candidate who is rightfully, correctly and legally on the ballot must be protected from this. She deserves line for line, minute for minute, moment for moment, and seat by seat every equality of coverage and equal participation that candidates who ARE party to the escalator that is  transferring wealth upwards from the meek to the greedy though taxes, laws and fees, and unfair policing have enjoyed .

Whereas: It is her duty to fight for this right to serve the people through the mandate vested in her by the 500 signers of her petition!  All damages that will be done to the people of this if they are prevented from the aid of her suggestions, her solutions, intentions, plan, platform, and tools of empowerment gleaned through her own personal experience and wisdom that she now offers to the People is incalculable – particularly at this late hour in the fate of our land and our Earth.

Whereas: It is imperative at this late hour, and at this specific juncture that the People of Vermont have complete access to, regardless of their residence, of a clear and total description of her wisdom, tools, intentions, plans and solutions that their choices of leadership have to offer.. Our very survival as People, as alive, flesh and blood persons depend on the application of alternatives to how our society functions and interacts with the world. The press and the media have a right to freely describe those positions but they do NOT have the right to suppress its delivery.

Whereas: time is of the essence. This suit is to wholly, completely, totally and indelibly, as well as thoroughly, exponentially, and inescapably notify the defendants of Emily Peyton’s complete earnestness and seriousness in carrying out her duty to (at the very least) those 500 signers of her ballot by virtue of whom and because of their support she is lawfully a member of the choices available to the People of Vermont in November for the office of Governor.  

Whereas: In my bid for governor I will pursue justice in this superior court venue, although that is an oxymoron, since the wealth and its perpetuation is vested in that same outlet for expression, nonetheless is it my duty and responsibility to at least the 500 signers and to the People I already serve in my best efforts to address the unfairness with all means available to me, therefore I am thankful that the civil courtroom exists and I am thankful to people who have come before me who have dedicated their efforts to fairness and equity. I am further thankful for the gift of expression that makes me able to express this unfairness, inequity and angst in words, and the spiritual guidance to do so;  I pray that I may speak  herein for  the frustration, anger and sorrow of the People who have abided and suffered because of these unfairness’s for too long.

Whereas: I wish that the norm would be to give all of the candidates literally equal space and time as a foundation of the freedoms afforded to the media and our speech; so that healthy criticism can reconstruct our societal methods of self-governance and these dangerous imbalances can be undone and redressed. Therefore i make this complaint in Superior Court of Vermont, without much faith that the court itself will deliver a fair hearing of the matter, yet the record will reflect my effort and sincere desire to serve the People and share the full extent of my wisdom through the newspapers, the radio programs, the public forums and debates and the television news.

Whereas: These services must be viewed as information’s highways or interstate roads, or airspace for the traveling of information. My information, plans, intents and solutions and the help that my services represent to the People of Vermont must be afforded the same access that other candidates with differing plans and platforms have – regardless of their political party, leaning or spiritual beliefs. Otherwise it is discrimination. Otherwise it would be as if those candidates are permitted to embark on a journey that I am precluded from at the outset. Otherwise I am hobbled to the gate as the other runners move out, as other candidates have access to the voting public through the highways and byways of the flow of information through the forums, debates and media means, than I, complainant Emily Peyton shall as well.

Whereas: the papers, radios, and televisions and public forums and debates must be absolutely fair and equal in their application of due space, time and coverage, The complainant envisions a fair election where each rightful candidate has exactly the same and similar opportunity to use those information highways as the other candidates regardless of her political persuasion, economic status or gender. So long as she engages in civil discussion, her platform should be widely available to those who must scrutinize it- the People of Vermont! Otherwise discrimination (because of political beliefs, spiritual beliefs economic status, what have you) has occurred.

Whereas: It is particularly troubling to myself, Emily Peyton that the People who are currently incarcerated are prevented from access to said information and the candidate is blocked from distributing the information of her platform directly and is expected to depend of the very media and press that refuses coverage to begin with in order to communicate her platform to the People held against their will in prisons of Vermont.  I am concerned that the incarcerated even more than the freer People are prevented from the aid that my service to the public means because  of the existing bias by and for well-heeled career politicians who utilize money  to their advantage-  including money taken from the people through taxation as a method to advertise their reelection.

Whereas: the regular person has no means to understand a regular person (such as myself, Emily Peyton) who desires and wishes to serve him by her proffered service as a public servant and Governor UNLESS and UNTIL AN EQUAL, FAIR, AND COMPLETE COVERAGE of her positions is PROTECTED, ENCOURAGED and IMPARTED by the press and hosts of the forums and debates.  I, complainant Emily Peyton, am terrified that our freedoms have already been completely subverted by the ruling greedy class in our country, and that their greed has set our planet on a road to self-destruction in our foreseeable future, if not sooner. And that, these same mentioned greedy perpetrators are in fact psychopathic in their thirst for money and power.  It is clear to me, Emily Peyton, that the Earth requires of us to respect the works of nature and to discontinue the process of abusing the natural resources, and that all the “isms”-‘ capitalism, socialism, Communism, need to be replaced immediately with activism on the part of Earth’s inhabitants to save the Earth and ourselves !

I, complainant Emily Peyton to fully doubt that a member of the ruling class (in the person of a Superior Court Judge) will apply the function of the courts to address this complaint describing existing unfairness and prevent more harm as a matter of negligence such as I have decried, but let it be known for the record that I, Emily Peyton, will search everywhere for the means to restore the balance of things. As time is of the essence and because I refuse to be a victim, I do not now choose  to “sit out” the elections process to see what already can easily be predicted will occur without preventative action and transformation of current practice.  Therefore I serve this complaint on every body of press and host of debate and body of government that has shown a proclivity to suppress, or have suppressed, or say they will suppress, censor and unfairly limit the access of platform information that the People of Vermont need to place their one and only vote for governor in clear light of the full complement of options open to them.

Whereas: It will be easy enough to remove defendants if they prove themselves up to the honor of the service of providing information through the means and methods of the information highway they have at their disposal.  AS soon as each completes said omissions then they will be removed from my complaint.  I, Emily Peyton, hereby refuse to be a victim of the exclusions that prevent the People of Vermont from healing the wrongs that have occurred, and from taking the actions that we must to heal the Earth and DO IT PRONTO! I

Whereas: I, Emily Peyton do believe, that the 500 people who signed my ballot petition are asking and deserving of fairness in delivery of the plans,platform, solutions and intentions I have for their Vermont, in specific I am certain that they want a servant who will stand up to greed an name it, who will stand up to the imbalance and name it and who will hold the servants of such greed accountable to the greater humane condition of compassion, fairness, generosity and equanimity. IT IS NOT HARD TO BE FAIR.

Whereas: it is not hard to be fair; it is not hard to partition a pie into 9 pieces, or a loaf into 9 slices. As there are 9 candidates (I believe) for governor, it is not hard to have 9 columns side by side in the news sources, have 9 interviews one by one on the radio, and have 9 news stories on the TV. 9 people on a stage with 10 minutes each. It is not rocket science.

It IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE, fairness is well within our reach and I , Emily Peyton am absolutely tankful for the court through which  to express my complaint and the mail through which to deliver my complaint to the defendants, and the sheriffs by whom to serve it if need be . I am thankful for those who take it upon themselves to voluntarily and fairly correct the censorship to prevent the furtherance of this complaint so that this election will be made complete to the participant, who is after all the voter, the People of Vermont, in full and complete terms.

Whereas: Democracy itself, through representation cannot happen UNLESS the candidates are respected and honored by the media and the hosts of forums and debates for their new solutions and platforms and allowed entry onto a level playing field. Entry, by the way, that should have been guaranteed by the delivery of the required signers to get on the ballot. Just as you would not expect  (even) a rookie football player to kick the ball from outside the stadium, or a baseball pitcher to throw over the plate form outside the ball park,( or a horse to run in a race while chained to the starting gate, or a high jumper to pole vault without the pole, or a swimmer to swim without the water or a hockey player to score a goal from a the locker room,  or a soccer player to kick the ball from off the field,) So you cannot expect to have any sort of fair election through democratic means without a full vetting of all candidates for the People’s benefit.

Whereas: each media source, host of public forum and debate must allow these candidates to participate as a matter of  democracy. THAT News sources and media, host of public forum and debate CURRENTLY should advertise about CANDIDATES AND EXCLUDE SOME BY THEIR OWN CHOICE IS PREVENTING THE AID THAT A HUMBLE LEADER WOULD PROVIDE FOR THE PEOPLE.  THAT IS, IN ITSELF NEGLIGENCE OF DEMOCRACY. THEREFORE AS SOON AS A CANDIDATE IS RIGHTFULLY ON THE BALLOT THESE SAME HOSTS AND MEDIA SOURCES SHOULD PREPARE FOR COMPLETE SPACE TO DESCRIBE THE PLATFORM OF THAT CANDIDATE AS A MATTER OF DEMOCRATIC RULE.

Whereas: WITHOUT THIS MEASURE OF COMPLETION OUR DEMOCRACY IS ENTIRELY LOST.  

Whereas:   AND THE LOSS IS IRREVERSIBLE.      

Whereas: THE GREED THAT  HAS MOTIVATED THE INFINITE (AND SOMETIMES EMPTY  LAWS (AS IN THE CASE OF THE FCC RULE FOR EQUAL TIME AND COVERAGE) AND THEIR UNEQUAL BIAS APPLICATION BY THOSE PEOPLE GREEDY FOR POWER OVER OTHERS HAS FORFEITED OUR DEMOCRACY, AND INDEED TO EARTH ITSELF.

Whereas: There are multitudes of people who are not so afflicted with this addiction to money or power, and they wish to take over and heal the EARTH.  Our democracy should make room for them to do so if it is a democracy at all, if it is not, let the people be hereby notified that our democracy has fallen.

Whereas: As I, complainant Emily Peyton, am willing to serve People will all my heart, passion And wisdom why should I be blocked, prevented, censored, and suppressed from reaching the People I wish to serve and WHY SHOULD the media predetermine me as  insincere, incompetent or too poor or too ODD to serve ?  If I have the balls to run why shouldn’t I be subjected to the scrutiny of the People who have maybe the most important decision to make in the modern history of the planet?

Whereas: This is the matter I put forth for consideration and request a trial by the jury of my peers and by a trial for the public good.

Whereas: in the impossible event that money is exchanged as a result of the outcome of this case, let every cent of that money be applied to the creation of organic farms in the state of Vermont, the creation of AN EXTENSIVE GRID FOR rail service, and the creation of a HEMP industry, and the movement of every household off the grid and away from centralized energy sources owned by corporations,( unless those corporations are collective cooperatives) and to fund home schooling for those who desire to undertake it, and for the elimination of cruelty to animals through compassionate methods of farming and killing and for  the restoration of our fertile, (pesticide, chemical, and synthetic fertilizer-free)  soil. Bless our soils.

Whereas: I, complainant Emily Peyton,  have purposefully avoided pseudo-legal lingo, so that the words I use are clear to all, and every last lay person may lay in the meaning and rest assured that what is said is said.

 Whereas: I thank the court and the People of Vermont for their time and consideration of this simple matter and once again I request a juried trial and monetary compensation in the amount of 20,000,000.- for  damages as have been described in the body of this complaint – however let it be said  that this money is meaningless, to be clear.  It is my prayer that this work, this lawsuit will aid in the reparation of our society harmed by addiction to greed- to that end I am happy to give my meager resources to engage in it.  

Emily Peyton

Independent for Governor”

Full press release from UPV after the fold.

I’ll be live blogging this event, as best I can (live blogging is not an easy process).  

A few things to note: all the Democratic candidates have shown an interest in early childhood education by attending, but one key player has declined.  Rarely seen, and even more rarely heard, candidate Brian Dubie will not be in attendance.  

Also– a piece of personal disclosure: I have, on occasion worked with UPV in both paid and non-paid capacities entirely independent of my blogging here or anywhere else.  

Update: Deb Markowitz will not be attending

It is way past time to put the two party system out of its misery. Yes, even Vt. is a two party state. There really is no difference between the Progs(in their current incarnation) and the Democrats. Pollina says parties do not matter and abandons the Progs–twice. Martha Abbot will defer to a Democratic candidate she likes. On the national level the party to end the war has not and has essentially maintained the corporate agenda. In Vermont the legislature cut services to those most in need and refused to raise taxes on the rich. And then they budgeted $300,000 to study health care reform instead of crafting a single payer socialized system. Vermont Yankee should have been shut down–NOW. The democrats and Progs had a veto proof majority.

So I urge you to vote insurgent, independent, and minor party candidates and abandon the status quo so change can happen.

(Go to VOTEBOOTS.Com for more information on my campaign for Lieutenant Governor.)

(GMD promotes candidate diaries   – promoted by Caoimhin Laochdha)

I just had this posted to my website and wanted GMD readers to see it right away. I am happy to hear your comments and answer your questions. Please send them to susan@bartlettforgovernor.com

Susan

Vision for Vermont’s Energy Future

We Need a Long-Range Plan

A major issue we face now is the lack of a comprehensive energy plan. Where will our base load energy come from for the next 20 years? How can we expand our use of renewable energy and have it become truly affordable?

As governor I will create a blue ribbon panel of Vermont experts in the energy field to create a 5, 10 and 20 year plan for moving Vermont to a locally produced, reliable energy future. The impact of this planning, and supporting legislation, is as important as Act 250 was to preserve our landscape in the 1970s.

Read on …

Vermont Yankee

I cannot foresee any circumstances that would persuade me to support the operation of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant beyond its long scheduled 2012 closing date. Vermont needs to turn the page on VY and focus on meeting our energy needs from other sources of energy with an ever-increasing emphasis on energy efficiency and conservation.

Almost every transition creates some hardships and when Vermont Yankee closes in 2012 there will be changes in jobs and a loss of jobs. On the other hand we know that every transition creates opportunities. We know this transition is coming and as governor I will work between now and 2012 to mitigate the negative affects.

The current number of jobs at the plant is approximately 900 and upon closing it is estimated there will be a loss of 300 jobs in the first year. We know that moving the plant to SAFSTOR keeps a number of jobs at the plant for many years. If the plant moves to decommissioning, literally taking the plant apart, there are a number of jobs created for the process of disassembling the plant. This not only provides the benefit of the total removal of the plant, but also allows for additional time to create new jobs in the energy field.

In the consensus economic and fiscal impact analyses associated with the future of Vermont Yankee, they show an increase in jobs over several years if we as a state make investments in efficiency, conservation and renewables. Using the money in the Clean Energy Fund, money from a fee the state receives from Vermont Yankee for dry cask storage (this will continue as long as the casks are there) we can invest millions of dollars a year into the creation of new energy jobs.

Given the significant transmission infrastructure development surrounding Vermont Yankee, I believe it is important to explore the generation opportunities that could be locally sited. This could be biomass that would create construction jobs and long-term timber production and logging and forestry jobs. I believe it is important to explore the possibility of a natural gas fired plant on the site, which would provide many high paying jobs.

Conservation and Energy Efficiency

Energy efficiency is the least expensive and cleanest source of electrical energy. Energy efficiency investments create jobs because energy efficiency improvements are labor intensive and local. Besides creating jobs, the money saved generated by efficiency improvements stays with the consumer, helping all of Vermont’s economy. Vermont has a long and strong tradition of investment in energy efficiency and should continue its investment. It will reduce our use of electricity as well as the use of energy to heat our homes while creating jobs in the hard-hit construction industry.

We are in the process of changing Efficiency Vermont into an all-fuels utility. That will be a huge help to all homeowners as they learn how many ways they can save not just electricity, but all other forms of energy.

Small Hydro

Vermont has a number of small hydroelectric facilities. With moderate improvements to make them run more efficiently, they will remain an important Vermont resource. Expansion of our wind farms, wood-fired generation, solar generation and farm and landfill methane projects will also be needed.

Wind

Industrial wind power is the most-talked about form of renewable energy because it is the most controversial. I am not willing to give up our beautiful ridge lines to wind turbines without a comprehensive plan for our energy future. Once we know where we are going, we need to streamline the permit process and allow folks not only in the town where they are located, but people in surrounding towns a voice as well.

Biomass

Biomass is a great source of energy for Vermont and must be part of our energy mix. It will create jobs and can generate not only heat, but also electricity through co-generation. There are several plans in the works to heat entire areas of towns from one plant. We have biomass plants generating electricity now and another on the way.

I have supported a group up in the islands called the Farmer’s Watershed Alliance and they have been working on best practices to help clean up water’s that drain into our streams and ponds and lakes. One of the other projects they have been working on is bio-diesel. They can produce bio-diesel from their seeds crops (canola and sunflower) for $1.70 a gallon…it costs them $2.70 to buy it! The by-product of the pressing is very high in protein and they use it to feed their calves and don’t have to buy grain. Talk about a win/win for the farmer, for the environment and for energy use. I can foresee whole farms making fuel to sell locally at a profit.

Solar

Vermont spends a lot of money buying power for our public buildings. A long-term plan could have us equipping them with solar panels that generate more power than they use. This will benefit our schools and other public facilities and help to lower taxes once we have paid for the equipment.

Supporting Programs

Our SPEED feed-in tariff for renewable energy is a perfect example of how we can develop local resources. Vermont also needs to have a mix of long-term fixed-price contracts with renewable generation in New England. The Hydro-Quebec contract is not a fixed price contract and it does not protect Vermonters from high electric prices in the future.

The Smart Grid should be fully developed. Right now the potential of the smart grid is unknown, but can become an important piece of conservation. I do not think that individual utilities will necessarily develop this process to its full capacity. My administration will provide strong leadership to the regulators to ensure we can maximize the efficiency of the use of grid resources.

Climate Change

We all live on this planet and no one can ignore the global changes that man has made on it. We cannot continue with the relatively unrestrained abuse of our planet’s air, water and soil without dire consequences. Although the science supporting climate change has been continually challenged by a small but vocal group of skeptics, as the body of scientific knowledge has grown, the debate has mostly shifted from whether it is real to how best to control it. I believe it is real and I refer you to my definition of a green economy.

Carbon dioxide is the greenhouse gas that is produced in Vermont by the burning of fossil fuel for home heating, transportation and electric power demand. State and federal policies that promote efficiency reduce the need to burn fuel. For home heating, building codes, energy efficiency initiatives like Efficiency Vermont, extending federal tax energy efficiency credits and federal appliance efficiency standards are effective tools. In the area of transportation we need to develop real systems of public transportation.

Green Economy

The next priority is ensuring that Vermont leads in the use of clean energy and that we develop a plan for how we best create a green economy.

I think that the Green Economy is much more than green energy. For me it is today’s reusing, reducing and recycling model. The Green Economy is about renewables and conservation, waste management, sustainable transportation and buying local. It’s about putting systems in place that will lead us all to an economy that is based on lowering our carbon footprint as individuals and as society as a whole. A Green Economy is a sustainable economy.

I believe that there are many different jobs created as we move towards a green economy. Certainly there are many jobs created when we support making our homes and places of work more energy efficiency, when we build bike paths, when we install solar panels and wind turbines. I believe the longer lasting jobs will be created by the innovation that we Vermonters develop as we develop a Green Economy.

It’s not building the wind turbine, it is creating the technology that makes the turbine a better turbine and then getting a patent on that technology that creates the jobs and grows our economy long term. It’s the system of waste management that is innovative and patented that creates the long-term economic development. It’s the innovative ideas and equipment we develop to clean up Lake Champlain that will attract and keep young people in Vermont. It is the many spin-off companies that can grow from the innovations in any field of the green economy. If we become the home of innovation and intellectual property (patents) we will grow the economy and keep and attract young people to Vermont.

Public Transportation

As I drive past our Park and Rides, they are not filled to capacity right now and I would venture a guess that public transit is not filled. Obviously when gas is really expensive, we will leave our cars, but most of the time we are still wed to our individual automobiles. I believe that using dollars to modernize our public transit system is very important and that as a state we have to be willing to support public transit for a number of years before we change our habits. As governor I would institute programs that promotes public transportation as a way to save money for individuals and a way to help lower our over all carbon footprint.

I believe that rail can become an important part of our public transit system. As we receive the federal dollars to upgrade our rail beds, I believe that commuter runs between places like St. Albans to Montpelier and Bennington to Rutland can become an important piece of commuting in Vermont. There is interest, followed by dollars, in Washington that has not existed for many years and as governor I would have a plan in place to show that there is definitely interest in reliable public transit, by rail, for everyday commuters. It will take time to change our habits and it will take a long-term commitment to create these changes.

Circumferential Highway

Thirty-five years ago the Circumferential Highway was the reflection of the thinking of the day; ways to go around cities for all of those cars. Today there is more of a desire to get us out of our individual cars and onto public transit. The land has been purchased and many communities planned their growth around the idea of a circ highway. Our world has changed in 35 years and what once was a perfect solution may not now be the best idea. With the new environmental study, as governor I would get the businesses and communities most affected to work together to decide what really is the best use of our dollars. The dollars used to build a major highway would go a long way to establish a modern public transit system that addressed the needs of commuters and communities.

It All Must Come Together

Again, what we need is a long-term energy plan for our state that addresses both generation and use of not only electricity, but also fossil fuel. My administration will make certain that one is developed. There are so many exciting things happening around all forms of energy that I am certain that Vermont can lead the country in sustainable energy use.

Let’s work together to bring new leadership to the governor’s office, to build a better future based on Vermont’s values and traditions.

A class of 16 seventh-graders has found a mysterious cave on Mars–a kind of “Martian skylight”–during the course of their research project analyzing images snapped by NASA’s Mars orbiter.

(Mysterious Martian Cave Discovered By 7th Graders, Huffington Post, 06/22/10)