sanders online

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger, and Department of Public Service Commissioner Elizabeth Miller today plan to announce a $1 million grant for an energy efficiency program in Burlington. The U.S. Economic Development Administration grant, authorized by a Sanders provision in an energy bill, will help the Burlington Electric Department provide innovative on-bill financing for energy efficiency projects.  On-bill financing is a utility-run program that offers upfront funds to customers to make money-saving improvements that save energy and lower utility bills.  The savings on customers' energy bills then are used to make installment payments on the energy efficiency projects.  This program will initially be focused on small businesses.
 

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and some of the state's environmental leaders' news conference on the benefits of “smart grid” technology in Vermont.

Vermont is a leader in the nation on development of a smarter, stronger, more efficient and reliable electric system that promotes renewable energy sources and saves consumers money.The head of the Vermont Electric Cooperative will share what the Johnson, Vt.-based utility learned through its almost universal deployment of the smart grid. Top officials of some of Vermont’s leading nonprofits will also detail the benefits of this new technology.

Who: Sens. Bernie Sanders; Scott Johnstone, executive director of the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation; Paul Burns, executive director of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group; Brian Shupe, executive director of the Vermont Natural Resources Council; and David Hallquist, CEO of Vermont Electric Cooperative.

With House leaders refusing so far to take up a bipartisan 5-year reauthorization of the Farm Bill, Rep. Peter Welch is joined by Rep. Bill Owens (D, NY-23), Sheldon dairy farmer Bill Rowell, and St. Albans Cooperative Creamery general manager Leon Berthiaume and Bob Wellington, Agri-Mark.  The current Farm Bill is set to expire on September 30, 2012. On July 12, the House Agriculture Committee, in a strong bipartisan vote of 35-11, approved a comprehensive 5-year reauthorization of federal agriculture programs that included key new protections for Vermont dairy farmers. In June, the Senate approved its version of a new Farm Bill which includes similar dairy provisions strongly supported by Senator Patrick Leahy, the senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and Senator Bernie Sanders.

Instead of taking up the bill approved by the Agriculture Committee, the House of Representatives will take up a one-year extension of the existing Farm Bill which will reduce payments to Vermont dairy farmers under the current Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program.

Community Health Centers of Burlington (CHCB) celebrates the completion of their Gateway Project and new Riverside Health Center facility. Attending this momentous event will be United States Senator Bernie Sanders; United States Senator Patrick Leahy; Vermont Congressman Peter Welch; and City of Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger.  

The Gateway Project was a $11 million dollar construction project that put to work a general contracting firm, architects, 38 subcontracting companies and five engineering firms, 99% of them local Vermont firms. Their $11 million project was estimated to bring $17 million worth of economic activity back into the community. CHCB is also a major employer, with 135 staff working at five different sites in our region. The new facility is a LEED Certified “green” facility and has approximately doubled the size of the the previous building greatly increasing the availability of cost-effective primary care to Vermont's most populated region. The Community Health Centers of Burlington’s new Riverside Health Center building expanded the number of medical exam rooms from 18 to 26, dental operatories from 8 to 12 and counseling rooms from 4 to 9.

Major funding for the Gateway Project came from the Federal Facility Improvement Project (FIP) for Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC). CHCB competed nationally for these funds with Federally Qualified Health Centers across the country. This funding was extremely competitive, with only 85 awards given out of 600 applicants. HRSA expected to award approximately $500 million dollars and had over $3 billion in requests.

CHCB’s funding award is a testimony to both the need and opportunity in Burlington, Vermont. CHCB is the only FQHC serving Chittenden County, caring for approximately 14,000 patients annually. With this new building, CHCB has the opportunity to positively impact the patient accessibility of the regional health system for many years to come.