BELLOWS FALLS-Today in my mailbox I found a big, glossy, glaring postcard (6 in. × 11 in., to be exact). It was from a group calling itself Americans for Prosperity.
That sounds nice. Prosperity - who doesn't want that?
The card wasn't nice, though. It had a lot of exclamation points and warnings about the impending doom of Act 18. The card didn't really explain what Act 18 actually is, but it told me "Vermont can't afford [it]!"
"Tell your lawmaker to repeal Act 18 now!!!"
"The unaffordable heat act has to go now!!"
The card made the claim that Act 18 will increase my cost of living, make it more expensive to heat my home, and make "Vermont less competitive with our neighbors by increasing regulation."
Of course, the card cited no sources nor even tried to substantiate or explain its claims, but why should it? All those exclamation points were so scary, it almost made my brain not care about things like facts ... or who or what "Americans for Prosperity" is.
Reading the return address on the card, I noticed that even though the organization taking responsibility for this card is "Americans for Prosperity Vermont," the return address is in Manchester, New Hampshire.
"Americans for Prosperity," I thought. "Why does that name sound familiar?"
Then I remembered, and Wikipedia confirmed it: Americans for Prosperity is a political advocacy group funded by and affiliated with the Koch family.
You know them. They astroturfed the Tea Party from obscurity. They want to gut Social Security and Medicaid.
Of all things, why would the Kochs care one whit about a legislative act that, in the words of the legislation, "achieves Vermont's thermal sector greenhouse gas emissions reductions necessary to meet the requirements of [the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2020], minimizes costs to customers, protects public health, and recognizes that affordable heating is essential for Vermonters"?
Because Koch, Inc.'s business is oil and gas. Refining, manufacturing, and distributing petroleum products and natural gas. And Act 18 asked the Vermont Public Utility Commission to design a potential Clean Heat Standard to achieve the goals stated above. And these goals might chip away at the Koch family's profits. Koch, Inc.'s revenues in 2021 were $125 billion.
Having all these pesky government regulations, as the card claimed, will make "Vermont less competitive with our neighbors." I'm not sure exactly which competition we in Vermont are trying to win over our neighbors - the card didn't give any further details. But I do know that, according to the Bloomberg media company, from 1999 to 2003 alone, Koch, Inc. was fined and penalized more than $400 million for a series of environmental disasters.
I guess regulation is no fun for Koch, Inc.
Anyone reading that Americans for Prosperity card, and my letter, is free to form whatever opinions about Act 18 they like. I just hope that everyone has the information necessary to understand exactly who paid for those opinions.
Wendy M. Levy
Bellows Falls
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