Witnesses urge House committee to pass H740 to create statewide greenhouse-gas inventory and registry
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Summary
Environmental and public-interest groups told the House Energy & Digital Infrastructure committee that H740 would provide essential, granular data—especially for transportation and heating fuels—help municipalities plan, and improve transparency around price and emissions trends; advocates urged funding for implementation.
Supporters of H740 told the House Energy & Digital Infrastructure committee that a statewide greenhouse-gas inventory and registry would deliver the granular fuel and emissions data Vermont needs to meet its climate goals and to help households and communities lower costs.
"H740 is a simple but meaningful bill," said Lauren Hurrell, executive director of the Vermont Natural Resources Council, in testimony arguing the bill will provide basic but essential information about fuels used across the state and help craft solutions for affordability and resilience. Hurrell also urged the committee to endorse funding in the appropriations process to implement the reporting program.
Johanna Miller, who leads the Energy and Climate Program at the Vermont Natural Resources Council and serves on the Vermont Climate Council, said the reporting program is a top recommendation of the Climate Council's 2025 plan and is foundational to measuring progress. "You cannot manage what you don't measure effectively," Miller said, framing the inventory as necessary to improve planning in the transportation and thermal sectors where data are currently modeled rather than measured.
Ben Walsh of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group reiterated the policy point and warned the committee not to rely solely on federal data, which he said could be less reliably available in the future. Technical questions about how the inventory accounts for electricity and biogenic emissions were raised by a witness from the utility sector who asked staff to reconcile differing accounting approaches to the statewide inventory versus utility-level reporting.
Supporters asked the committee to consider collecting data at the regional planning commission or municipal level rather than by county to better support local enhanced energy planning. Miller and others noted the program will require resources and urged the committee to include a funding request to the appropriations committee so the Agency of Natural Resources can stand up and administer the registry.
The committee did not vote on H740 during the session. Members asked clarifying questions about data granularity, accounting methods for electricity and biogenic sources, and the Climate Council's previous deliberations; witnesses said the Climate Council supported the recommendation nearly unanimously, with the exception of the fossil-fuel industry representative. The committee indicated it would review submitted materials and the Climate Council cover letter posted to the bill folder for additional context.