Vermont State House. Photo Credit: Creative Commons/Jared C. Benedict
December 13, 2024 (Montpelier, VT) – Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) has opposed the State of Vermont’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by CLF to hold the Secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) accountable after she failed to ensure the state is on track to reduce climate-damaging emissions. CLF filed a response to the state’s motion to dismiss and released the following statement.
“Vermont would be better served directing its time and resources toward correcting its flawed accounting of climate-damaging emissions, rather than attempting to dismiss our lawsuit before we even have the opportunity to present our case in court,” said Elena Mihaly, CLF’s Vice President for Vermont. “Too many families and businesses are still rebuilding following deadly and destructive extreme flooding in our state. We know pollution from dirty fossil fuels is overheating our planet and exacerbating extreme weather events. With progress toward creating a safer and healthier environment under threat from Washington, we need local leaders to step up and fulfill their legal obligations so we can protect Vermont for future generations.”
CLF filed its lawsuit in September after several months of requesting to meet with the State to discuss our concerns. Passed in 2020, Vermont’s Global Warming Solutions Act is critical for keeping the state on track to reduce harmful emissions contributing to climate change. Under the law, Vermont must lower its polluting emissions over time, hitting critical benchmark reduction requirements along the way, the first of which comes on January 1, 2025.
But we can’t reach these requirements without knowing where we really are in our efforts to curb pollution. The Secretary of Natural Resources’ flawed accounting has led to an underrepresentation of our forecasted climate-damaging emissions. This thumb-on-the-scale math has resulted in Vermonters being misinformed of progress to date. It has also wrongly allowed the Secretary to avoid taking necessary actions to ensure achievement of the 2025 emission reduction milestone.
Honest accounting shows that the state isn’t on track at all. State leaders can’t cut corners on climate action. Vermont should be leading the way in climate solutions, especially with a contentious and divided national landscape. CLF remains ready to contribute our resources and partner with the State to correct its emissions accounting modeling and develop rules to further curb climate polluting emissions.
CLF’s response to the motion to dismiss can be found here.
CLF experts are available for further comment.
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