The Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission (TRORC) seems to be listening. After public comment on its draft Regional Plan, commission staff have recommended dropping two major energy mandates: the fossil-fuel heating ban and the EV charger requirement. Both were among the five policies that drew the most comments, all of which staff recommend deleting.
The TRORC Board still has to approve the changes. If it does, it would be a commendable rewrite: the number of mandatory policies would fall from 131 to 53, and none of the 27 new entries would be a mandate.
But the revised plan still pushes a policy agenda that does not belong in regional planning.
The most recent recommendation still says new fossil-fuel service stations are “strongly discouraged,” even though most vehicles, tractors and generators in rural Vermont run on gasoline or diesel. It still sets a goal that half of new developments of 20,000 square feet or more use geothermal heat by 2035. And it still aims for every light-duty vehicle in the region to be electric by 2050.
So, what would change if the recommendations were adopted?
Home heating. The ban on fossil-fuel heat in new Act 250 development would be dropped. Commercial and industrial projects would still be “encouraged” to avoid it “when other heating systems are cost-effective.” Homes would no longer be covered.
Geothermal. The requirement to “demonstrate due consideration” of geothermal and heat recovery would become “should consider” for commercial and industrial projects.
EV chargers. The rule requiring one Level 2 charger port for every five employees or housing units would become just a suggestion for new parking lots.
Forest land. Act 250 subdivisions on Rural Conservation Area lots over 30 acres had to leave 80% of the land undeveloped. The revision would cover only lots over 50 acres and drop the 80% rule.
Fuel stations. No change proposed; new stations would remain “strongly discouraged.”
Staff also recommend deleting some overreaching requirements outright:
The requirement that Rural Conservation Area development avoid major wildlife crossings. The ban on Rural General Area projects that would require paving gravel roads. The five-unit limit on rural residential buildings, and six policies that limited truck traffic and road impacts in rural areas, required traffic studies, restricted development near new interchanges, required EV charging and mandated sidewalk snow clearing. They also proposed dropping the one-in-nine affordable unit quota and the 20-event cap on farm businesses, and replacing rural density limits with 50- and 25-unit caps on Act 250 housing.
Despite these improvements, the fact that a regional commission weighs in on some of these matters at all is a problem. The first draft said that “public and private infrastructure shall be planned and funded to support our economy and natural environment.” That line would be deleted under the new recommendations, but it shows how the commission sees its role: as central planners who know better than the rural Vermonters trying to build on their own land. And that mindset did not leave with the deleted language. It still runs through multiple provisions that survived staff revisions:
A carve-out for favored energy. Land above 2,500 feet in the Rural Conservation Area must stay “predominantly in a natural, undeveloped state,” except “for wind power and/or telecommunications projects endorsed by this Plan.”
How big your house should be. The plan backs homes under 1,000 square feet “as a means of reducing energy use.”
How much you drive. The plan aims to cut miles driven per person to 9,500 a year, down from a statewide 11,772 in 2019.
Government has no business picking winners and losers among energy sources, deciding how much space a family needs to raise its kids, or setting targets for how many miles you drive.
Much of this agenda was born in Montpelier. The Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA), passed in 2020 over Gov. Phil Scott’s veto, made emissions cuts legally binding: 26% below 2005 levels by 2025, 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 and 80% by 2050. Anyone can sue the state if it falls short. Vermont has already missed the 2025 requirement.
Under Act 174, a regional plan gets “substantial deference” from the Public Utility Commission on energy projects only if the Department of Public Service certifies it. The Department’s standards require regional plans to set heating, transportation and electricity targets tied to the region’s “share” of the GWSA’s cuts, and to “promote actions that decrease the use of fossil fuels for heating.” All 11 regional commissions have been certified. So, when TRORC sets targets for heat pumps, electric vehicles and miles driven, it is largely doing what state law pushes it to do.
TRORC can heed public comment and keep its plan focused on growth, housing, infrastructure and flood resilience. But as long as the GWSA sets binding cuts and state standards tie a plan’s weight to meeting them, regional plans will keep producing recommendations like these.
What’s next
The TRORC Board will review the staff recommendations at its next meeting on September 30 at 6:30 p.m. Residents should make sure these improvements survive and push the plan to drop its remaining energy agenda. When the Legislature returns in January, lawmakers should revisit the GWSA and the Act 174 planning standards and eliminate the mandates that keep pushing ideological energy policy into regional plans.
