Speaker 1 00:00:07 Welcome to the Democracy Dispatch podcast. I'm Justin Marsh, political Outreach Director at Vermont Conservation Voters. This is your weekly scoop on legislative action as we work to push forward environmental policies for Vermont. Each Monday. We will take a look back at the week prior preview the week ahead, speak with legislators and advocates on topics affecting our air, water, open space, and quality of life. On today's show, I will be joined by Lauren Hierl, executive director of Vermont Conservation Voters for the Session Shakedown segment. Lauren then catches up with Representative Amy Sheldon for our Deep Dive conversation outlining her priorities for the new biennium as Chair of the restructured House Environment and Energy Committee. Later, I'll speak with Representative Taylor Small about the Winooski Dome Proposal Project of 1979. But first, if you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe and give us a rating wherever you listen to your podcasts. Be sure to follow us on social media too, on Twitter. We are at VoteGreenVt, Instagram at VTConservationVoters. And find us on Facebook as well. You can subscribe to our emails, see our legislative scorecard, and learn more about our work and policies by visiting Vermontconservationvoters.org. Speaker 1 00:01:28 Now I'm joined by Lauren Hierl, executive director of Vermont Conservation Voters for our session shakedown segment where we recap the week prior and look to this coming week of the session. Speaker 1 00:01:44 Last Wednesday was the beginning of the 2023/2024 biennium, and the week was filled with much pomp and circumstance, including the swearing in of elected officials, the election of the Speaker of the House and Senate Pro Tem and the governor's inaugural address. It felt very much like the first day of school in a lot of ways, but it's also the first time that I've had the pleasure of spending any significant amount of time in the State House. Lauren, how did it compare to the prior biennium starts, in your opinion? This is your 10th year in the State House now? Speaker 2 00:02:15 Yeah, in some ways it was similar unlike what we're watching in Washington DC right now, it was smooth, it was friendly, everything went, according to plan. In another way it's a unique year because there's been so much turnover. So there were so many new faces, there's a huge number of new committee chairs, and there were just a lot of unknowns coming into the week of what the structure of the legislature is gonna look like and what the dynamic is going to be this year. Speaker 1 00:02:46 Yeah, we learned the House Committee shakeups on Wednesday. There was some restructuring of the Natural Resources Committee, which you talk with Rep Amy Sheldon about later on. But what other changes did we see? Speaker 2 00:03:00 Yeah, I mean, overall the biggest changes I think were, again, a lot of new chairs in the house. Several new chairs in the Senate, although no structural changes, and we saw some moving around. So we've got some new faces on, for example, the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee, where we spend a lot of time. So we'll have two new, great champs on that committee. But otherwise, you know, the big change was to the Energy and Environment committees in the House, which I talk about with Amy in a few minutes. Speaker 1 00:03:34 Yes. And we wrapped up the first day with the relaunch of our monthly Green Drinks event, which brought together some of our environmental allies and legislators. And then Thursday we learned the Senate committee assignments. Anything to report there? Good news, bad news? Speaker 2 00:03:49 Yeah, I mean, overall, yeah, we've got, I think our Senate Natural Resources committees gonna be some great allies that are really excited to work on a lot of the VCV priorities and, you know, overall it's just gonna be great. Again, with a third of the Senate being new members, I think it'll be a lot of new faces and on all of the committees and turnover, and so just seeing what those dynamics look like as the session goes on. Speaker 1 00:04:17 Absolutely. And shifting to this week, the committees will begin their work. What can we expect this upcoming week? Speaker 2 00:04:24 Yeah, this week we're expecting a lot of committees really just starting to understand what is the jurisdiction that they work on, what areas of policy. I know that they'll be inviting in a lot of the commissioners and secretaries from the agencies and departments that they most work closely with. So I think it'll be a lot of like ground laying and talking about the committee members' priorities before they really get into the policy work Next week and beyond Speaker 1 00:04:54 And Thursday, our climate organization partners will convene along with our legislative body for the unveiling of the 2023 common agenda. What is the common agenda all about? Speaker 2 00:05:05 Yeah, so this is a project that Vermont Conservation Voters has been doing for many years, and the goal of it is to really work with all of the leading environmental groups from the state that do policy work and identify what are the key policies this year that we expect to see action on. So there's always a million different ideas. People have a lot of different things we could be doing, and so it's really trying to shine a spotlight on the, the most important, most pressing policies that we wanna see the legislature act on. Speaker 1 00:05:37 Perfect. And if you wanna check out the common agenda, it will be posted on our website later this week. Uh, and you had the opportunity, as we mentioned, to speak with Representative Amy Sheldon last week at the statehouse. Let's hear that conversation now. Speaker 2 00:05:54 Hello everyone, this is Lauren Hierl with Vermont Conservation Voters, and I'm excited to be helping launch our new podcast and, uh, have a conversation with the chair of the newly, uh, constituted environment and Energy committee representative Amy Sheldon. And we're gonna hear a little bit from Representative Sheldon today about what the new committee structure in the house is looking like and also what are some of the big issues that, uh, the house is gonna be working on related to environment and energy this year. And just, um, be before handing it over to the chair to tell us more, you know, so this is, we're ending the first week of the legislative session, so 2023 legislature and new statewide officers sworn in this week. Um, there's a huge number of new folks, um, new faces at the State House, which is exciting and will mean that there will definitely be a learning curve as people are, you know, figuring out a lot of, uh, new chairs and new committee members, um, you know, learning the ropes. Speaker 3 00:07:01 So, you know, we'll be cutting people some slack, but also have some really big important, uh, issues to work on. Um, and there's a lot of, um, environmental and climate champions who were elected this year, so it's really exciting. There was a Climate Solutions caucus, uh, meeting this week. There were almost 50, uh, senators and representatives that showed up. It was a lot of energy and enthusiasm, uh, to move climate mitigation and climate resilience we're both talked about. And, uh, so I'm coming into the session with a huge amount of optimism and there's tons of work to do. Uh, and we've got a new committee. So let's hear from, uh, representative Sheldon, can you tell us about, uh, the committee that you'll be chair, uh, and then we'll talk a little bit about some of the big issues. Thanks for being with me. Speaker 4 00:07:43 Yeah, thanks for having me. Good to be here, Lauren. Um, so as you noted, we are the newly created house and, uh, committee on Environment and Energy, still getting used to saying it. Um, and our jurisdiction will include all of the areas of the environment that the previous Natural Resources Committee covered, as well as energy and broadband topics from the Energy and Technology Committee. And the IT topics from that committee are gonna go to the government operations committee. So we're getting most of the energy and technology area of jurisdiction and retaining the previous natural resources committee. And some folks say, oh, isn't that too much or isn't that a lot? And it certainly is more than what we did last year, but it actually lines us up pretty much directly with our Senate, um, sister committee over there, the Senate Natural Resources and Energy. So our areas of jurisdiction will be very much more closely aligned, and so I'm confident that, um, we'll be able to work well with them and make progress on both of the major areas of our jurisdiction. Speaker 3 00:08:53 Excellent. So could you tell us, um, what are some of the big issues that you're excited to be taking on this year? Speaker 4 00:08:59 So, big issues, you mentioned the climate. We have a strong team on the, the newly formed committee of folks who are interested in working on climate issues, uh, from all aspects. So we will continue our work on, um, conservation of our forest lands and pick up the 30 by 30 bill, which is the goal sets a goal of conserving 30% of our lands by 2030 and 50% by 2050. That is a bill that made it out of the house and the Senate that the governor vetoed last year. So we will hopefully be moving that bill again early, and we will hopefully also keep working on solid waste issues, including the bottle bill. We are excited to work with, um, on the energy side of things with the renewable energy standard, we'll be doing a lot of background education on all of our new areas. So we have members from the previous Energy and Technology Committee. We have members from the previous House Natural Resources Committee, but, and we have actually two members from the transportation committee as well as three new members joining our committee. So it's, um, all of us need to learn something , so we'll be spending first few weeks just getting up to speed on those topics. Speaker 3 00:10:13 Yeah, that's a lot of ground to cover and, uh, sounds like you've got a great committee with expertise to, to move these issues forward. Um, well, thank you so much for giving us that overview. We will, I'm sure be back as issues are coming up to dig in more and let our members, you know, better understand what exactly we're trying to accomplish and how the policies are shaping up. And appreciate your leadership and excited to have you back in this, uh, chair with so many big issues to move. And, uh, we'll talk to you soon. Thanks so much. Speaker 4 00:10:46 Thank you. Speaker 1 00:10:53 The concept of encapsulating a city within a giant dome sounds like something out of a science fiction novel, but in 1979, this was being talked about as Winooski i's future. Perhaps the most out of the box development was the consideration of the Winooski Dome proposal project of 1979. In the midst of a global energy crisis, Winooski city planners applied for a $55,000 federal grant to study the possibility of constructing a dome over the city. They wanted to explore whether this design would ultimately preserve energy and save the cost of heating. Mark. Tigan, director of Community Development and planning at the time was a key figure in this proposal. He says, the original idea for the dome SPR from Political Maneuver to prevent the city of Burlington from creating a dam at the upper Winooski falls. While the project would've created energy for Burlington, it also would've effectively dried up Maki's major asset, the Winooski River. Speaker 1 00:11:51 An energy attorney advised Tigan and his colleagues to compose a competing application for a smaller dam that would give them standing to argue against Burlington's proposal. One night after a city council meeting, members convened for a drink and started brainstorming ways to save energy and have a smaller carbon footprint for environmental as well as economic reasons. From the session, the idea of covering Winooski in a dome was born according to Tegan. They initially wrote it off as ludicrous, but the next day, the community development staff decided to investigate it closer. After determining that the dome had the potential to reduce maki's residents with heating bills of up to 90%, they proposed the idea of a federal grant request to the city council. Winooski City council voted three to two to approve the application for the grant to conduct a feasibility study. Tigan brought architect John Anderson into the fold to develop a design and visual images for the proposed dome. Speaker 1 00:12:45 Anderson had previous knowledge of dome technology from a project from a developer in Hilton Head, South Carolina, in which he helped create schematic designs for a sports center using two long span domes. Anderson devised a dome design for Winooski that was relatively flat. He described it as a hairnet of steel cables, shrouded in a transparent or opaque vinyl material. We would raise the air pressure inside the dome just over normal atmospheric pressure. This extra pressure holds its shape, and it would essentially inflate like a balloon. According to Anderson, if the fabric was ever punctured, the dome would deflate very slowly. Over a long period of time, Anderson created two four foot long drawings of the projected dome. One offered a perspective of the exterior from the vantage point of Colchester Avenue, while the other allowed the viewer to imagine the inside of the dome and what life would look underneath it, putting a realistic vision to the idea to continue to promote the concept and also secure the grant money. Speaker 1 00:13:41 The illustrations depicted underground tunnels to accommodate the flow of traffic while pedestrians drove golf cart like vehicles above. Today, according to Anderson, the location of those original prints is unknown. According to Tigan, the public reaction was overwhelmingly positive from Winooski residents. When the idea was presented to Winooski residents, a very, very small minority of people didn't want to do it, but the majority wanted it to the extent that they created the a club called the Golden Onion Dome Club. But a 1979 article by Burlington Free Press painted a slightly more lukewarm picture of public perception ranging from indifference to staunchly opposed. Some citizens were worried about how a dome would radically change their lifestyle, voicing concern about how a lack of rainfall would affect their gardens, or if a dome would aesthetically obstruct their views. Several others thought that $55,000 needed for the study could be better spent on recreation for children or improvements to the city, or a million other things despite mixed local reception. Speaker 1 00:14:42 This groundbreaking concept quickly garnered national and then international media attention. But when the S proposal attracted international publicity, the Department of Housing and Urban Development apparently buckled under the pressure from the White House and pulled back funding. Despite many proponents, engineers now deem the project as infeasible, but not impossible. Likely it could see success in a smaller scale other than an entire city. Joining me today to discuss this phenomenal project proposal is Representative Taylor small progressive representative from Winooski. Representative Small was born and raised in New England, and has lived in Chittenden County since moving to Vermont with her family. In 2010, she was elected a state representative in November of 2020, making her the first out transgender person to serve in the Vermont legislature. She was a victory empowerment fellow in 2021, and the recipient of one Young World's 2022 Politician of the Year Award. She serves on the House Committee on Human Services, and is our first guest for our first episode of the Democracy Dispatch podcast. Welcome, my dear friend, representative Taylor Small. Hi Taylor. Speaker 5 00:15:49 Hello. Well, thank you so much for having me. Speaker 1 00:15:52 Oh, of course. My pleasure. So glad you could join us. And you're in the State House right now, aren't you? Speaker 5 00:15:57 I am indeed. Speaker 1 00:15:58 Uh, love to see it. So this is your second Biennium. It just started. What is new for you? How's this first week been for you? Speaker 5 00:16:06 You know, much different than my first, first week, uh, being here in person. Uh, getting to see all the energy, getting to see the pomp and circumstance right here in person is really a phenomenal experience, especially in a year where we've had record turnover in both the House and Senate. So it's also nice to see my new colleagues getting to, to have the energy of being in person and making change happen together. Uh, I couldn't have asked for anything better. Speaker 1 00:16:36 Yeah, the, the energy is really fun in the statehouse. This, it's, I feel like it's just been a long time waiting and, and now everyone's back and there's so many new faces. And, um, do you feel seasoned like you're a veteran at this point? with so many new faces, Speaker 5 00:16:48 Maybe not a veteran yet, but I am definitely feeling confident that we're gonna make some big bold change in the upcoming session. Speaker 1 00:16:57 Absolutely. And while you are not at 100, your city just turned 100 and uh, they just celebrated their centennial last year. Um, and Winooski is one of the most densest communities in the region, if not the most dense in in Vermont. Uh, what are some major environmental priorities for your community? Speaker 5 00:17:15 Well, I think, uh, yeah, we're the most densely populated and most diverse city in northern New England. And I think there are a lot of aspects that come up when we think about environmental impacts and how we can support our community. Two that come to mind, uh, first and foremost is water quality. Being right next to the Winooski River. We have our Winooski River defenders who are constantly reminding us of the impact of PFAS and forever chemicals that are getting into our waterways, into our food sources, and ultimately going into our own bodies and accumulating over time. The other piece is thinking about small urban agriculture, finding ways in this time of food insecurity, of being able to allow folks to grow their own food in a sustainable manner in places where we wouldn't necessarily think about having agriculture, which are the densely populated city centers in Vermont, which feels weird to say. Cause not often do we talk about urban centers in the state of Vermont. Speaker 1 00:18:13 Yeah. And now food resiliency has its own committee, uh, in with agriculture and forestry. Speaker 5 00:18:20 Ugh. And it's so important to combine those issues, especially when we're thinking about the ways that chemicals are showing up on our food systems, uh, from Neo next to p FFA s within our seeds. Uh, it's an ongoing issue that we really need to discuss and I'm glad that we're prioritizing it this session. Speaker 1 00:18:37 Absolutely. And we'll have more to talk about those PFAS in just a moment. But back to this dome. So just hot take, do you think that the Winooski Dome proposal was a good decision? Speaker 5 00:18:48 You know, I am a fan of the Winooski Dome. What can I say? I would've been part of the club. I would've been supporting it from the start. Um, it would've been, I think as the kids say, iconic, uh, in Vermont, it would've been a tourist attraction. Uh, but most importantly, thinking about the impacts of our old housing stock in Vermont, but in Winooski in particular, and being able to sustain folks within that community in a way that, uh, weatherization is taking a lot of time to implement, but a dome would impact the entire city. Um, and one foul Swop. Of course, there are a lot of logistics to think through. I'm not the engineer here, um, but the idea of being able to drive around a little golf cart in Winooski also sounds really appealing. Speaker 1 00:19:36 I know, I mean, Winooski is so small and how, what's the, is it like a one square mile? Speaker 5 00:19:41 We are one and a quarter square mile, so already pretty walkable, but having a golf cart sounds pretty cool. Speaker 1 00:19:48 It sounds super cool. I would totally be down for that. I think that would obviously make campaigning even easier for you, Speaker 5 00:19:54 . Goodness, . Speaker 1 00:19:56 Alright. So do you think that this type of proposal would still have wings in 2023 if, even if, you know, we could do it on a smaller scale, we know that we're still in the same global crisis if it's only gotten worse since 1979. So what could, what could you see? Could it be possible? Speaker 5 00:20:14 You know, I think at this time when we're talking about bold change, it means we have to get creative. So maybe it is not necessarily the dome coming back, but it is thinking outside the box or thinking outside the dome as to what these opportunities are. If we haven't tried it yet, then we don't know whether it works or not. But I think that's, that's the direction we need to go, is thinking about what is gonna be best for our communities in the long run, but also what's gonna take that edge of actually curbing climate change. We, as you know, so well, are at a, a pivotal point where we need to take substantial action when it comes to mitigating climate change. Because we are not talking about climate change anymore, really. We are at a climate crisis. And so if our generation does not take action on this, we are seeing the end of the world as we know it. And so whether that's the dome or whether that's young folks coming together and thinking about the new solution, I'm here for it and ready for those discussions. Speaker 1 00:21:17 I think even on a smaller scale thinking like of Rotary Park in the center of win of the downtown Winooski area, I think that would be kind of cool, right? I mean, so often I've been with at events with you where it's almost impossible to hear over the traffic noise. Um, and the, those F 35 s that you love so much, um, that's total sarcasm for listeners. Um, maybe that, maybe there's something there of a little pilot project in Rotary Park, Speaker 5 00:21:42 Uh, no pun intended, with pilot, um, I have brought the same critique to the community. It was actually something that was discussed on the campaign trail as we were talking about climate change. Mitigation is thinking about what the dome could have been and what it could still be today. And one of those is thinking about noise pollution, whether it's from the F 35 s or the other aircrafts that are coming over winooski. So frequently, I think there are multiple advantages to these creative solutions. Speaker 1 00:22:12 Well, fingers crossed that within our lifetime we might see something similar to the 1979 proposed Winooski dome project. But until then, I wanna thank you for your impeccable lifetime environmental score of 100, um, V C V tracks, all legislators votings, and we keep a scorecard on our website. Um, and then shifting, you know, back to the p FFA s that you mentioned and, and Winooski priorities, um, your work this session, I know that there's a toxic spill that, uh, will likely be going to your committee banning p FFA s from consumer Goods and products. Um, I'm curious if you've got more thoughts on that policy or what other initiatives you might be really excited about and have your eyes on, either within your committee work or beyond. Speaker 5 00:22:56 Yeah. Oh gosh. The issue of P FFA s, which I wish I could say the full name for you, of this forever toxin that's in our communities. Um, but I cannot, so we're just gonna call it P F A S during this, uh, discussion. Uh, I think the issue is at both ends. So one being consumer products, we should not be adding more P F A S into consumer products that are going to go directly into our systems, our waterways, our ground soil. Um, that's, that's number one. Let's not add any more of these forever toxins, but again, I'm gonna keep emphasizing that piece, that these are forever toxins. We cannot get rid of them, but we can clean up our groundwater. We can clean up our ground soil, and especially we need to respond to the forever chemicals that are going into our landfills and ultimately into the leachate. Speaker 5 00:23:44 Right now we have this process of where we're drudging up from the landfills, this P F A S, and then we're just sending it over to Plattsburgh instead, which is still getting into our waterways because we are sharing the beautiful Lake Champlain. And to be able to continue to say that we have a beautiful Lake Champlain, we need to take care of our water, and we need to think about what we are allowing to go in there already. So the two-pronged approach being how do we stop these forever chemicals from coming in in the first place and then cleaning up the mess that we have already made. Speaker 1 00:24:16 Well, I look forward to sitting in on some of your committee discussions when that bill is, uh, comes through your desk and, and your committee, co committee members for sure. Um, it's gonna be an interesting discussion and, and hopefully, um, it, it has the same sort of, uh, near unanimous, if not unanimous approval that the last PFAS bill had in the last session. Speaker 5 00:24:36 I would not be surprised. Um, it's definitely top of mind for our committee. Speaker 1 00:24:39 Absolutely. Taylor, thanks so much for taking time outta your busy day to chat with me about this. And I'm, I can't wait to see more of you around the statehouse this session. Speaker 5 00:24:49 Oh, well thank you so much for having me, and thank you for hosting these discussions. I think it's so important for us to talk about environment and climate change, even here in small Vermont, because though we are a small state, we can have a global impact. Speaker 1 00:25:02 That's right. I wanna thank Jenny Coppang of Community News Service and Vermont Digger for their reporting on this. For more information, photos and interviews, check out the City of Winooski centennial celebration virtual presentation on this topic legacy.winooskivt.gov Speaker 1 00:25:27 Now it's time for our climate stat of the week 7.1. That is the number of degrees Fahrenheit. The Burlington Vermont's winter temperatures have risen since 1970. According to analysis by independent research organization in Climate Central, the Boston Globe reported last month that federal temperature data shows that climate change has warmed winter temperatures more severely in the northeast region than elsewhere in the country. Researchers analyzed temperature data from 238 sites across the United States and found that all but six locations have seen an increase over the last 50 years. Winter temperatures are warming about twice as fast as summer temperatures, according to a 2021 National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration analysis. As we've seen just over the past few weeks alone, mild temperatures, heavy rains, high winds, and a general lack of snowfall have impacted important sectors of the Vermont economy and environment from the maple industry to the ski industry. Speaker 1 00:26:30 It goes without saying that the need to act on climate mitigation is now. Yes, I wanna thank our guests, representative Amy Sheldon, and Representative Taylor Small, as well as the fabulous Lauren Hierl for assisting me on today's episode. We'll be back next Monday for episode two of the Democracy Dispatch. I'll be chatting with Susan Clark, a town moderator in Middlesex and co-author of Slow Democracy. She recently joined the editorial and creative team behind the Center for Cartoon Studies project entitled Freedom Immunity, which is a graphic guide about the past, present, and promise of democracy and civics in our brave little state. Be sure to tune in for that conversation. And until next time, thanks for listening.