Stop Vermont Biomass

07/29/2024

Join us on Thursday, August 1 for a rally and canvassing event to retire the McNeil plant, Vermont’s largest polluter. We will have zines, a sign-on letter, and new information about the plant and what you can do to help retire it. Bring food for a picnic or get some from the food trucks across the street

11/21/2023

It should never have been a difficult decision, but despite overwhelming opposition from the residents they are supposed to represent, Burlington City Council decided to vote yes for the McNeil steam pipe tonight.

Many thanks to the tireless efforts of groups and individuals involved in pushing back against this horrible plan. The fight is not over! We're not going away!

11/21/2023

Wow! It’s a packed house at Burlington, VT city hall. It has been nearly two hours of compelling climate and forest advocacy from dozens of Burlington residents pushing back on McNeil and we’re still going strong! (Non-Burlington residents haven’t even begun speaking yet!) We can’t thank everyone enough for coming out tonight. Together we are setting the record straight on biomass.

11/19/2023

TOMORROW: join us in showing we're watching as they vote on the steam pipeline and carbon pollution impact fee! Bring a sign and your friends 🖤

11/18/2023

There is no argument for expanding McNeil, but there are several million _against_ it. How many more reasons to vote NO does Burlington City Council need?

Burlington Electric Department ratepayers are losing millions of dollars each year; money that could be better invested in truly low-carbon energy and efficiency measures For Immediate Release Saturday, November 18th, 2023 Contact: Paul Messerschmidt (Report Author), Skype: Paul.Messerschmidt, paulm...

11/18/2023

Burlington City Council votes this coming Monday on expanding the McNeil biomass plant. Contact a councilor today and tell them to vote NO to district energy!

Ward 1: Zoraya Hightower: [email protected], (802) 391-4333
Ward 2: Eugene Bergman: [email protected], (802) 598-3602
Ward 3: Joe Magee: [email protected], (802) 279-5513
Ward 4: Sarah E Carpenter: [email protected], (802) 658-0474
Ward 5: Ben Traverse: [email protected], (802) 357-2055
Ward 6: Karen Paul, City Council President: [email protected], (802) 863-3817
Ward 7: Ali N Dieng: [email protected], (802) 318-2527
Ward 8: Hannah King: [email protected], (802) 448-2059
Central: Melo Grant: [email protected], (802) 310-0962
East: Timothy C. Doherty, Jr.: [email protected], (802) 274-0038
North: Mark Barlow: [email protected], (802) 549-4433
South: Joan Shannon: [email protected], (802) 860-7489

11/15/2023

Burlington City Council will vote NEXT MONDAY on the fate of the expansion plan for the dirty McNeil biomass plant. Contact your councilor this week and tell them NO / NO steam pipe! We don't want this monster to get any bigger!

https://www.stopbtvbiomass.org/

11/10/2023

Rally at noon Sunday at City Hall!

BTV City Council is voting 11/20 on expanding the nasty McNeil plant. Now's the time to tell the CC NO!

Smash the QR code or use the link below for lots of ways students and non-students alike can reach city councilors.

This is NOT just a Burlington issue - we ALL breathe the same air and feel the same impacts of a ruined climate. If you're not from BTV, you do NOT get to sit this one out!

Toolkit here: https://tinyurl.com/4c3s359f

11/09/2023

Not surprisingly, Burlington Electric's "foresters" have come out in support of the expansion of the McNeil biomass plant. These days, the job description of "forester" pretty much requires justification for logging, and in this opinion piece BED's foresters have earned their paycheck.

Forests don't have "low grade" trees - that's a term used by timber companies to justify killing small trees that are in the way of the big trees that bring in the big bucks.

Don't fall for this exhausting marketing language. It's all about the money for them. The rest of us want forests that require no "help" from humanity - especially "foresters" - to flourish.

11/08/2023

“The last thing we need is for this air- and climate-damaging plant to expand – which is why Burlington’s City Council should vote “no” on the proposed District Energy Project”

The last thing we need is for the McNeil Biomass Plant to expand its air- and climate-damaging operations via the District Energy Project.

10/26/2023

Misguided energy policy has led us to cutting down the best ways - our forests - to protect us from climate change.

Misguided politics has led us to putting Vermont’s climate policy in the hands of people in suits - Burlington Electric - who run the largest stationary source of CO2 emissions in the state.

Misguided belief in “business as usual” has led us to debate over whether a 1980s dinosaur - the McNeil Generating Station - should be expanded to burn even more of our forests.

It’s time to end old thinking that locks us into a dirty, dangerous, and unjust future climate. Please contact your City Councilor today and encourage them to break from past thinking and vote NO on the expansion of the McNeil plant.
https://www.stopbtvbiomass.org/

10/20/2023

Bill McKibben joined us last night for our screening of the film "Burned" and had some choice words about biomass and the proposed expansion of the McNeil biomass power plant in Burlington.

"Burlington's officials asked me to help them celebrate the fact that Burlington had become a zero-carbon city. I said I couldn't do it because it wasn't actually true. The reliance on McNeil means Burlington is a *carbon* city."