Vermont Must Act Now to Prevent Electricity Crisis

[KingM34]

The State of Vermont is backing itself into an energy corner, helped along by high petroleum costs and a region-wide shortage of electrical generation. Reports estimate that New England as a whole will have a difficult time meeting its electrical needs as early as 2008.

Worse for Vermont, contracts for electricity from Vermont Yankee and Hydro Quebec are set to expire in 2012 and 2015, respectively. The two sources supply two-thirds of the state’s electricity and the loss of either one would be devastating. Much of the rest of our electricity comes from gas-fired plants, which suffer from the escalating cost of natural gas.

Howard Dean recognized Vermont’s reliability on a handful of sources as far back as 2001, when he suggested that Vermont should consider building a coal-fired power plant, a suggestion that he later said was meant only to spur discussion. The discussion may have occurred, but little progress has been made in subsequent years. Indeed, opposition has sprung up to wind projects in the state, to coal-fired power plants, to nuclear power, even to home-grown solutions such as outdoor wood boilers.

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