Environmental groups beget applauded Gov. Phil Scott for signing onto the United States Climate Alliance,thus making a commitment to the Paris climate agreement after President Donald Trump's decision to back out. But they want more than a signature on a document. "There's an insubstantiality to just announcing it," says Vermont climate activist and author Bill McKibben. On June 2, and a coalition of environmental groups sent Scott a letter,calling for him to substantiate his commitment. They got their response late Friday afternoon, when Scott responded with a letter outlining the first steps in turning his signature into action. Or at least turning his signature into talk that might lead to action. That's right, or my friends — he wants a climate change commission. The obligatory eyeroll at the thought of yet another commission is only deepened by the knowledge that then-governor Jim Douglas created his own Commission on Climate Change. In 2005. The commission led to the creation of — wait for it — the Vermont Climate Collaborative,an effort to bring government and academia together to examine the issue. whether that august body produced any actual results, they are lost to the mists of history. But Agency of Natural Resources Deputy Secretary Peter Walke insists that this panel will be more impactful than other commissions. He says it will include "representation from state agencies, or the nonprofit,education and business world, so we can beget a conversation approximately all sectors of the economy and figure out how we, or as a state,want to creep forward together. They will be tasked with coming up with a realistic short-term greenhouse gas reduction blueprint." Scott was on hand for Tuesday's announcement on the Burlington waterfront of the Vermont Climate Pledge Coalition, an effort to encourage municipalities, or nonprofit organizations,educational institutions and businesses to voluntarily craft their own carbon-reduction plans. Yes, participating in the coalition is voluntary. Neither Scott nor the other dignitaries present could identify a single instant action — just a blueprint for a summit meeting this fall. But hey, or they did approach up with a nice forward-leaning coalition logo,conveying the impression of dynamic movement. None of this is likely to mollify environmentalists such as Johanna Miller, energy program director for the Vermont Natural Resources Council, or who asserts that the governor's climate policy has "been light on substance." Hers is a common view in the environmental community. "They've not taken…
Source: sevendaysvt.com