Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship
When it comes to tracking greenhouse gas emissions, Jared Duval summed it up with a familiar saying: “If you don’t measure it, you can’t improve it.”
Duval, a representative from the Vermont Climate Council, was talking about H.740, a bill that passed the House on March 25.
H.740 would help the Agency of Natural Resources create a more comprehensive inventory of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions, primarily by including fuel suppliers in the annual count. The bill would require such suppliers to submit data to the agency, which would track the types and volume of fuels sold.
The bill doesn’t directly allocate any funds towards this effort; however, the Senate set aside $300,000 in the fiscal year 2027 budget bill for one-time use.
The inventory is meant to determine where emissions in the state are coming from and if they’re decreasing as part of the Global Warming Solutions Act process. Vermont is one of 23 states to create its own inventory for emissions.
“Right now, Vermont has very good estimates of the aggregate amount of statewide climate pollution emitted in Vermont by virtue of the (inventory),” Duval said.
But fuel companies — i.e. how many gallons they sell — are missing from the data, Duval said.
“This lack of information limits the state’s ability to have those corporations be held responsible for helping to reduce pollution over time,” he added.
Rep. Kathleen James, D-Bennington-4, chair of the House Committee on Energy and Digital Infrastructure, is the main sponsor of the bill. She said the Agency of Natural Resources officials told her they needed lawmakers to give the agency specific statutory authority to source its data, including requiring fuel dealers to share more-specific numbers with the agency.
Now, the fuel dealers report their sales to the Tax Department at a high level. James said this bill could require reporting sales by fuel type, via zip code or smallest practicable geographic unit. The data now shows fuel sales by type at an aggregate statewide level.
“This is not the kind of detailed, geographic level of data that could help future policymakers craft really thoughtful, targeted policy,” she told Community News Service via text. “It might be helpful to see, for example, which Zip Codes are more reliant on fossil fuels than others.”
Matt Cota, a representative of the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association, testified in both committees assigned to the bill. Cota said he uses a fuel index to track fuel sold and the tax revenue it generates.
The fuel industry already tracks the data H.740 seeks, Cota said, but not at such a granular level.
“Once it’s delivered, we don’t watch it burn,” he said.
Cota acknowledged that asking businesses to report fuel data means they would have to find out how their customers use the fuel, while also participating in a process that seeks to undermine their industry.
“We’re left with an impossible ask: How do we report something that is unknowable to us? And for us to ask our customers would be an incredible expense, there’s no payoff,” he said.
“What we have here is an expensive data collection exercise that will cost taxpayers. It will cost businesses. It will lead to no better information that we currently have available now for free,” he added.
Another battle for better data arises from a federal fight.
The current data comes from a number of sources, including federal numbers from the EPA. James said this data is, at the very least, delayed.
“They run on a lag, and who knows how reliable those data sets will continue to be under the Trump administration,” she said.
James said the bill has been a top climate and energy priority for her. One benefit of H.740, she said, is that the state agency would be able to gather its own data in a timely and accurate fashion.
Lauren Hierl, executive director of the Vermont Natural Resources Council, said if Vermont wants to reduce climate pollution, good data and policy are essential. She pointed to the federal government’s rollback on clean energy progress and increased use of outdated technology as a hurdle.
“Vermont is one of many states trying to take a different path forward, with solutions that can benefit our communities’ health, resilience, energy, independence, affordability, and do our part to address the climate crisis,” her Feb. 4 testimony reads.
Rep. James said that a lot of policies attempting to lower emissions, such as home weatherization and electric vehicle adoption, require upfront investments with the goal of lowering residents’ energy bills. The first step, James said, is determining the scope of the problem.
“You start out by having really good, bomb-proof data that shows where fossil fuels are being sold in Vermont,” she said.