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Edited on Fri Jan-16-04 05:11 PM by TLM
he wanted to raise the retirement age to 70 . “The way to balance the budget is for congress to cut Social Security, move the retirement age to 70, cut defense, Medicare, and veterans pensions...it would be tough, but we could do it.” -gov dean
That was an answer to a HYPOTHETICAL question about what MIGHT have to be done were a balanced budget amendment to have passed in 95. To act as if that was a policy statement on Dean's part s grossly misleading.
"“ Stephanie Kaplan, a leading environmental lawyer and the former executive officer of Vermont's Environmental Board, has seen the regulatory process under Dean become so slanted against environmentalists and concerned citizens that she hardly thinks its worth putting up a fight anymore. ‘Under Dean the Act 250 process (Vermont's primary development review law) and the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) have lost their way,’ contends Kaplan. ‘Dean created the myth that environmental laws hurt the economy and set the tone to allow Act 250 and the ANR to simply be permit mills for developers.’”
More misleading accusations for a far far left group of folks who wanted to abuse the environmental protection laws to establish ZERO DEVELOPMENT in vermont.
Dean would not cave to them and instead struck a balance between the environment and the need to get vermont's economy going.
Dean's environmental record....
Land Acquisition Over 470,000 acres of land conserved through Dean’s leadership as Governor nearly 8% of Vermont. Properties acquired and added to the state’s holdings include important natural areas, significant waterfalls and gorges, critical wildlife habitat areas, key inholdings, access areas, recreation lands and important forestland parcels.
Storm Water Management Governor Dean pioneered a statewide program establishing permit authority over storm water runoff. Vermont’s Agency of Natural Resources partnered with local authorities in towns and cities to give storm water controls teeth.
Tough Emissions Standards Governor Dean ordered emission controls Vermont to be more stringent than those required by the Kyoto Protocols. He has worked consistently and closely with the New England states to sue the Midwestern states to reduce coal emissions.
Lead Role on Mercury As a physician, Governor Dean took a lead role in VT and at the Conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers on eliminating mercury within the region within 10 years.
Thoughtful Development Governor Dean provided real incentives to keep development in downtowns and kept Vermont’s scenic vistas pristine by discouraging development near highway interchanges. Established a Development Cabinet and advanced the use of permitting as a tool to promote sustainable growth.
Efficiency Vermont Created the Nation’s first “energy efficiency” utility to provide statewide strategies for conserving energy and called for increased use of renewables, farm, municipal, landfill methane generation projects. Efficiency Vermont is a finalist for Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government Innovations in American Government Award.
Founder of E-Vermont Governor Dean founded E-Vermont, recognized as one of the Top Ten Best Performing Clean Cities Coalitions in the United States. E-Vermont is an effort to explore advanced technology vehicles and electric vehicles.
The Vermont Energy Initiative — Dean’s comprehensive energy program focused on helping citizens and businesses help themselves by advocating Combined Heat and Power and distributed generation, exempting newly constructed renewable facilities from property taxes, and offering “green pricing” of power.
Net Metering — Dean initiated required net metering, allowing private, commercial, and farming consumers to offset energy bills by generating their own power from renewable resources and selling it back to the grid.
Biomass Energy — Dean created the Biomass Energy Resource Center in 2000 to aggressively promote biomass heating systems in public schools, state and commercial buildings. Dean also supported use of an existing wood-fired power plant to develop new clean-burning biomass gasification technology.
Harnessing the Wind — Under Dean, the Searsburg Wind Farm Project was initiated with a 6MW farm to demonstrate the feasibility of wind energy production in the mountainous state.
Efficiency Vermont — Vermont became the first state to implement a statewide efficiency utility. The utility, known as Efficiency Vermont, helps Vermonters invest in the most efficient technologies to meet their energy needs. During Dean’s tenure as governor, Vermont lowered its energy needs by 5.5%.
Affordable Efficiency — Thanks to Efficiency Vermont, 1 in 7 customers upgraded their electrical systems to run with higher efficiency, achieving energy savings at one half the cost of purchasing wholesale electricity.
Savings in Energy Costs — Efficiency Vermont programs enabled households and businesses to save $3.5 million in 2001, and to save 60 MWh annually — the equivalent of Vermont’s three hydroelectric dams.
Power Plant Emissions Reductions — Through efficiency programs Vermont was able cut annual emissions in all areas — 632,000 tons less CO2, 2578 tons less SO2, and 973 tons less NOX.
Award Winning Innovation — This year, Efficiency Vermont received Harvard’s Kennedy School’s Innovations in American Government Award. Some states are now using it as a model for their own programs.
Ensuring Clean Air — Dean created the Committee to Ensure Clean Air which recommended revenue-neutral “green taxes” to curb emissions and fund tax incentives for citizens to purchase clean technologies.
Committing to Climate Change Action — Dean signed the New England Governors' Conference resolution to improve efficiency in energy use and transportation in northeast. The regional plan calls for reducing GHG emissions 25% by 2012, and 50% by 2028. Dean’s Vermont Greenhouse Gas Action Plan identified policy options to reduce already low Vermont GHG emissions by 21%, increase employment by 1%, reduce energy costs by $6.2 billion, and energy use 16% by 2020.
Encouraging the Use of Cleaner Fuels — Dean actively promoted the use of natural gas over other fossil fuels, wherever cost-effective and environmentally practical, to lower emissions.
Advancing Electric and Hybrid Development — Dean’s EVermont program made VT the premier cold weather testing site for electric vehicles and fostered Compressed Natural Gas cars and filling station trials.
Investing in Mass Transit — Dean bolstered mass transit in Vermont by expanding commuter rail service, providing funds and incentives to restore bus routes, encouraging businesses of 50 or more to establish “trip reduction plans”, and constructing more park-and-rides.
Fostering Smart Growth — Under Dean, Vermont’s progressive land-use policies were protected and continue to encourage forward-thinking growth planning and development.
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