The renewable-energy industry is one of the fastest-growing
sectors of the Vermont economy. But the siting of solar and wind projects has
begun generating public outcry in communities across the state, some lawmakers
want to give towns and cities more control over the fate of projects in their
borders.
Last week, in a packed committee room on the first floor of
the Statehouse, Addison Sen. Chris Bray set the stage for what could be one of
the more contentious debates of the 2016 legislative session.
“The point of today’s session is to give us a chance to
see the lay of the land – what people are proposing, what’s come out of the
work between sessions,” said Bray, the Democratic chairman of the Senate
Committee on Natural Resources and Energy.
As it turns out, there been quite a bit of movement on this
front since the last legislative session, and Senate lawmakers have already
introduced at least 10 bills dealing with the issue renewable-energy siting.
The question of where renewable energy projects belong,
where they don’t, and how to figure out the difference, continues to divide
lawmakers. And as constituents plead for more power over the regulatory
process, some legislators are looking to change the laws that govern the
green-energy sector.
"My sense is there's strong support for renewable
energy in this state, and it's not if we’re going to develop it, but how we're
going to develop it." - Chris Bray, Senate Committee on Natural Resources
and Energy chairman
Last year, lawmakers devoted enormous energy to a piece of
legislation that sought to give municipalities more sway over the process used
to approve or deny renewable energy projects. The law now ensures that
municipalities have “party status” in the legal process used to approve or deny
energy projects. It also allows towns to create screening ordinances for solar
projects.
The bill has done little, however, to assuage the concerns
of some lawmakers, who say the regulatory process still largely ignores the
will of municipal plans and zoning regulations. Caledonia Sen. Jane Kitchel,
the Democratic chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, says she’s
heard from many municipal leaders in her district.
“And from their perspective, and I’m sure people will have
different views, but they feel ignoring the content of these documents and
existing regulations tends to undermine the efforts of the state to see each
town develop and utilize these documents," Kitchel said.
Last year, lawmakers adopted a state energy plan that calls
for Vermont to get 90 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2050.
Senate Minority Leader Joe Benning says that directive has largely tied the
hands of three-person regulatory board that reviews energy projects.
“By far and large, the towns are being dismissed in whatever
claims they’re making because there is an overriding state objective that the
Public Service Board is trying to accommodate,” Benning said.
Ben Walsh, director of the Climate and Energy Program at the
Vermont Public Interest Research Group, says lawmakers should wait to see how
last year's legislation plays out before it proceeds with other major revisions
to energy-siting protocols.
Walsh says the state as a whole has a vested interest in the
development of green energy. And in the same way that Vermont doesn’t let a
single town veto construction of power lines needed to transport electricity
elsewhere, he says lawmakers can’t afford to give municipalities de fact veto
power over energy projects.
Walsh says all forms of energy generation have pitfalls. But
he says the solar and wind projects popping up across the state are a far
better solution than power from coal or gas Vermont would otherwise have to
import.
“Today we actually have the opportunity to take
responsibility for our own energy, generate more of it here in Vermont, and
that’s a good thing,” Walsh says.
Bray says he expects to pass a bill this year that
acknowledges the concerns of towns without impeding the growth of renewable
generating in Vermont.
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