Governor's Climate Change Commission Punts on Transportation

At a Press Conference held today at the University of Vermont, Governor James Douglas and members of his Commission on Climate Change unveiled, as Commission Chair Ernie Pomerleau put it, "signature Vermont ideas and signature Vermont concepts."

Conspicuously absent from these signature ideas and concepts were any significant approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector. Sure, there was some of the usual rhetoric about investing in downtowns, promoting energy-efficient buses, and encouraging growth centers, but there was very little to back this up.

Visibly missing from the Commission's lengthy report or the Press Conference was any mention of the Circ Highway and the $200 million or so the State of Vermont still wants to pour into building it. Not a peep about better ways of spending this princely sum -- such as on real alternatives to single-occupancy vehicle use. (See my post on a lost opportunity in the EIS process of developing a realistic transit alternative).

Even more remarkably, despite the report's rhetoric about the need to "reduce travel demand," the report calls for the state to "invest more in its transportation infrastructure, including highways, railroads, and park-and-ride facilities." The Commission's strange logic is that by doing this "the development of public transportation can be accelerated" (see page 4 of the Commission's October 2007 report). Wouldn't it be make more sense -- if the goal is really to reduce greenhouse emissions -- to invest more in public transportation, recognizing that this would, in turn, reduce vehicle miles driven and eliminate the need for building new highways?

But a lack of any true focus on dealing with the transportation sector's greenhouse gas emissions (see Chart at end of this post) didn't keep Governor Douglas from announcing his pleasure that "Vermont is ahead of the rest of the nation in addressing global warming."

Governor Douglas might, however, want to read respected environmentalist Bill McKibben's recent comments on the Circ Highway that: "Every other sensible jurisdiction in the country is trying to get past their 60s and 70s era over-investment in highways." As McKibben puts it, "the Circ can best be described as a global warming machine."

And, before I close, here's a chart from the Governor's Commission report, showing just how important a contributor to greenhouse gas emissions the transportation sector is in Vermont. Which makes it even more puzzling -- and disappointing -- that the Commission chose to punt when it came to calling for any signficant measures to curb our auto-dependency.