Vt. eyes wood boiler buybacks

[burgandyrose]

http://www.timesargus.com/article/20100202/NEWS02/2020364/1003/NEWS02


BURLINGTON (AP) — A state lawmaker wants to help Vermonters replace inefficient and dirty outdoor wood-fired boilers.

New models of the outside boilers that heat water used to heat homes are 80 to 90 percent cleaner than the original models that were produced in the 1990s.

Offiicials say one outdoor wood boiler creates as much air pollution as 1,000 oil furnaces and that emissions can trigger asthma attacks and possibly other health problems.

Sen. Ginny Lyons has introduced a bill to help buy back some of the boilers using some of the $360,000 a year Vermont will receive for three years from a settlement of an air pollution lawsuit.

Lyons' bill would require that all old furnaces to be phased out by 2016.

[gilster]

It's fun how government works /sarc

I am assuming the pollution settlement money is this story:
http://www.ag.ny.gov/media_center/2008/apr/apr08a_08.html

CUOMO SECURES RECORD $9.5 MILLION FROM NATION’S LARGEST POWER COMPANY TO REDUCE POLLUTION IN NEW YORK STATE

NEW YORK, NY (April 8, 2008) – Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced he has secured $9.5 million for the State of New York as a result of a federal Clean Air Act settlement. The funds, which will be used to fight air pollution throughout the state, come from a settlement that Attorney General Cuomo and others reached with American Electric Power (AEP), the nation’s largest power company. The total funds represent the largest payment for environmental projects ever received from a New York State settlement under the Clean Air Act.
~snip~

But that's not all!!!
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As a part of the settlement, AEP is required to pay the eight states involved a total of $24 million over the next 5 years for use in energy efficiency and air pollution reduction projects. These eight states have agreed to allocate the settlement funds as follows: New York (receiving $9.5 million), Connecticut ($1.8m), Maryland ($1.2m), Massachusetts ($3.1m), New Hampshire ($1.2m), New Jersey ($4.2m), Rhode Island ($1.2m), and Vermont ($1.8m).
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The settlement requires the company to invest nearly $5 billion to upgrade its “eastern fleet” of 16 power plants and cuts over 800,000 tons of air pollution yearly, which is the single greatest reduction of air pollution ever attained from a Clean Air Act enforcement action.
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Under the settlement, AEP was also required to pay $75 million for penalties and environmental projects, including: $15 million for civil penalties; $36 million for various environmental improvement projects; and the $24 million announced today, which has been divided up among the eight states to fund energy efficiency and air pollution reduction projects.
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(And who the heck knows about those lawyer fees)

Then you have stories about energy rates:

http://www.mtairynews.com/view/full_story/5645637/article-Residents-fighting-against-AEP-rate-hike?instance=home_news_lead

Residents fighting against AEP rate hike
by Staff reports

CANA, Va. — Cana residents are ready to fight back against rate hikes in their power bills.

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The latest rate increase — which the company claims is 12.5 percent — is the fourth such rate hike over the past two years, totaling increases of nearly 50 percent over what American Electric customers were paying for electric service in 2008.
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He said he believe AEP officials did not fully understand the effect those rate increases, decided upon by the company’s management and board in Columbus, Ohio, had on families and individuals in Virginia. “We asked them to consider withdrawing their request for a rate increase,”
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You got to look at the cost of doing business in America. OK, AEP is big business - it pollutes - but wouldn't it be better to have the company just fix their own problems and keep costs down?
(On a different scale-It's like fining someone who doesn't have Health Insurance - they don't have the money for it now- then you fine them for not having money?)

Now we have people in VA (and everywhere) deciding on groceries or lights because of rate hikes partially created by Environmental agency and AG sucking revenue from an electric company and shuffling the money to states for their pet projects and lining federal coffers with electric money, etc.

People that use electricity from this company are getting hosed - but hey, VT has this money sitting around that can buy back old wood boilers.

Money doesn't grow on trees!

Ever wonder where all this money comes from that the states and feds dish out - it isn't just taxes.....