Committee previews bills and floats wider task force on Vermont’s future power supply

An unidentified committee member leading the agenda review told the House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee the panel will hold multiple budget and policy hearings in the coming week and aims to move several bills toward votes before crossover. Items listed for near-term work included a cell-tower bill (H.527), a consolidated copper/fiber broadband committee bill (26 0 7 2 6 cited in discussion), H.710 and the greenhouse-inventory bill (H.740).

During the same discussion the member proposed broadening an existing feasibility study on reintroducing nuclear power into Vermont into a larger task force that would examine the "future of energy generation and power supply" more broadly, including small modular reactor (SMR) technology, spent-fuel management, offshore wind, biomass and the state’s Hydro-Québec contracts. The speaker framed the proposal as a possible committee bill intended to minimize per-member expense by relying on existing staff and agency participation.

"So reintroducing nuclear power generation in Vermont, that would be a study on siting new nuclear power plants in our state," the speaker said, and then suggested the committee could expand the scope to study broader questions about the future of generation, grid adequacy, and large new loads such as data centers. Members signaled interest in a limited, achievable task force and in proactively addressing data-center siting and large loads through modest, focused legislation.

The agenda lead also announced a February briefing on the Yankee decommissioning report and said the committee will seek witness lists for net-metering and other outstanding bills. No formal motion or vote was taken on the task-force proposal during the meeting; members agreed to circulate ideas and to let the agenda lead draft a committee bill if there is no objection.