Vermont's Energy Future
Consulting Team
Department of Public Service
112 State Street
Montpelier, Vermont 05620David J. O'Brien
Commissioner
For Immediate Release:
Monday, June 04, 2007
Contact: Stephen J. Wark
(802) 828-4021Public Engagement Process Contractors Identified
Montpelier, Vermont – The Department of Public Service is pleased to announce that consulting experts have been retained for the Public Engagement Process on Energy. During the 2005 – 2006 legislative session, Governor Douglas signed into law Act 208 and Act 160 – both focused on energy. These Acts are unique because they require the Department of Public Service to conduct outreach to Vermonters to determine where they want their future energy to come from.
Vermont utilities continue to work closely with public service staff to explore supply options for the future, including the feasibility of significant new in-state generation. Also many utilities are replacing portions of their supply portfolio each year. However, much of the discussion with the public is in reference to the expiration of two significant supply resources, and the big picture policy considerations of renewing these sources if possible or replacing them with other alternatives. In 2012, the contract with Vermont Yankee expires; in 2015, the state’s largest contract with Hydro Quebec expires. Combined, both sources of energy account for two-thirds of the State of Vermont’s electricity. “Today we find ourselves in the enviable position of having the lowest electric rates in New England and a supply portfolio that is one of the cleanest in the nation from a carbon-emission standpoint. Maintaining that position will be a genuine challenge.”
The Department has been working hard with the Legislature to identify funding and the scope of the project. “We believe the average Vermonter has a wisdom that will help us identify the best solutions for our energy future”, Commissioner O’Brien said. “To that end, we have identified a team of consultants and processes that will use the most scientifically accurate methods for informing and identifying the desires of Vermonters,” he said.
Dr. Robert Luskin will be conducting a process known as "Deliberative Polling". This process has been used successfully on a host of topics around the world, and relies on providing citizen-participants with highly detailed information, and facilitated time to deliberate the choices. Dr. Luskin is Director of the Center for Deliberative Opinion Research at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is also an Associate Professor of Government, and a Research Advisor at the Center for Deliberative Democracy at Stanford University, where he is also a Visiting Associate Professor of Communication. His specialties include public opinion, political psychology, research design, statistical methods, deliberative democracy, and Deliberative Polling, and his articles have appeared in the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, and the British Journal of Political Science, among other scholarly journals. The contract with the University of Texas is budgeted at $334,290.00
Dr. Jonathan Raab will be facilitating meetings with the Project’s Advisory Committee, and will also be conducting a series of regional workshops throughout the state. He is an experienced mediator, facilitator, consultant, and trainer. Dr. Raab is a national leader in applying consensus-building processes to energy, environmental, and regulatory issues. He authored a book, Using Consensus Building to Improve Utility Regulation and is on both the mediation and arbitration panels for the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland (PJM) Power Pool, the mediation panel of the Mid-Continent Area Power Pool (MAPP), and on the dispute resolution rosters of the US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution. The contract with Raab Associates is budgeted at $146,000.
Department staff will also be conducting on-line meetings through a software package from Facilitate.com. FacilitatePro web meeting software helps facilitators and team leaders run meetings by delivering tools and techniques to support innovative thinking and decision-making. FacilitatePro provides online tools for surveys, brainstorming, categorizing, prioritizing, custom voting and polling, alternative analysis, action planning and reporting. The contract with Facilitate.com is budgeted at $23,235.00
Advisory Committee meetings have been underway since May of 2007. Project status reports, a calendar of events, and more information is available online at www.vermontsenergyfuture.info
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