Senate Hopefuls Focus on Energy at Candidate Forum
Five Democratic candidates seeking to fill three Washington County senate seats aired views during an online forum last month. The forum, moderated by Times Argus executive editor and publisher Steve Pappas, was hosted by Vermont Conservation Voters and the Vermont Public Interest Research Group.
One of the seats opened up to newcomers when Sen. Anthony Pollina announced he would not seek another term after 12 years in the Senate. The other two seats are being sought by their incumbents. Only Democratic candidates were included because only two Republicans have registered as candidates and so there is no primary election contest between them. The Republican candidates are Dwayne Tucker of Barre Town and Matthew Bean of Northfield.
As for the Democrats, incumbent Sen. Ann Cummings is seeking her 13th two-year term, while Sen. Andrew Perchlik is seeking his third term. The other three candidates are Jared Duval of Montpelier, Jeremy Hansen of Berlin, and Anne Watson of Montpelier. Duval is the executive director of Energy Action Network and has worked as economic development director for the Agency of Commerce and Community Development. Hansen is a former Berlin Selectboard member and a Norwich University computer science professor who founded CVFiber. Watson is mayor of Montpelier, former city council member, and a physics teacher at Montpelier High School.
Pappas posed several questions ranging from climate change response to housing to racial equity, but The Bridge pulled out the first two questions, and the one on housing since the length of covering the whole event would have been prohibitive. The full link to the event can be found at vermontconservationvoters.com.
“The climate crisis is the most pressing issue facing our country. What do you say to young people to give them hope for a bright and habitable planet and what will you commit to today and to them to address the crisis and the scale and pace that this challenge requires?”
Ann Cummings, a former Montpelier of Mayor and retired real estate agent, said the question is challenging because Vermont has a “small energy footstep” [sic]. She said she supported the clean heat bills in the past and is committed to getting public funding to help moderate-income and low-income Vermonters complete weatherization and to switch over to sources of energy other than fossil fuels. Right now it is a struggle to produce more electricity, and yet keep the price down, particularly since electricity is currently the “almost only alternative” energy source. Cummings also noted that this isn’t the first time the state tried to rely on electricity when the price of oil got too high. She noted about how in the past people started to put electric heating sources in their homes, but the price of electricity went so high that people went back to oil heat and natural gas.
Jared Duval said dealing with the climate crisis has been his life’s work. “I began as a student organizer, community organizer, and climate organizer at the age of 16, before I could vote because I knew how important this was to our future.” Duval said he agrees in offering equitable transition opportunities to get low-income and middle-income residents off fossil fuels
Jeremy Hansen said it is important to “show up” and let your voice be heard so politicians know how important the climate crisis issue is to people. “This is a scary time. We are at the inflection point of a number of different issues and we need everybody to show up.” Small incremental changes are good, but Hansen said the state needs to look at structural change, like a carbon tax, land conservation, and telecommuting.
Andrew Perchlik, director of the Vermont Clean Energy Development Fund, said young people should know that “we have the answers. We know what to do to solve the climate crisis, we just need to have the political will and the pressure from the populace to make sure the government does it.” He said he promises to push the Vermont Green New Deal to bring renewable energy structure up to 100%.
He also said he supports fully transitioning the transportation infrastructure to an electric infrastructure while increasing public transportation and on-demand transportation.
Anne Watson touted her work as mayor of Montpelier instrumental in bringing the renewable energy sources for the municipality up to 40%. Not wanting to rest on her laurels, Watson said, “but that is not enough. We need to be doing more not just for the city but for the state and for Washington County.” Watson supports lifting the cap on solar energy from 500 kw per any one customer and would like to help renters transition to renewable energy without increasing rents.