The Vermont House of Representatives on Tuesday sustained Gov. Phil Scott’s veto of a clean heat standard (CHS) bill, missing the necessary two-thirds majority to achieve an override by one vote.

Scott expressed concern in a veto letter Friday that the “costs and impacts” of the bill (H.715) are “unknown.”

“I have clearly, repeatedly and respectfully asked the legislature to include language that would require the policy and costs to come back to the General Assembly in bill form so it could be transparently debated with all the details before any potential burden is imposed,” he said.

Speaking on the House floor Tuesday, Rep. Timothy Briglin (D) said he was “confused by the governor’s veto message” because the bill “clearly states” that legislators must pass a new bill on the final CHS rules for the governor’s consideration.

On May 3, the House approved a Senate amendment to H.715 that included language requiring the Public Utility Commission to return proposed CHS rules to the legislature before adopting them.

Scott, however, said the amendment is an “inadequate ‘check back.’”

A CHS was one of the major greenhouse gas emission reducing policies in the Vermont Climate Council’s initial Climate Action Plan released in December.

“This [standard] was by far the single largest emissions reduction policy recommendation in the Climate Action Plan designed to deliver a full third of the emissions reductions required by 2030 [in the 2020 Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA)],” said climate council member Jared Duval during a council subcommittee hearing on Thursday. Duval is the executive director of the Energy Action Network.

The GWSA directs the council to develop a state plan to reduce GHG emissions 80% below 1990 levels by 2050, with interim targets for a 26% reduction from 2005 levels by 2025 and 40% below 1990 levels by 2030.

Council members are working this year to make up for a significant gap that already exists in the emission reductions that the climate plan’s strategies need to achieve.

The council was poised last fall to recommend the Transportation and Climate Initiative Program in the action plan when Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts pulled their support for the program. Loss of the multistate cap-and-invest initiative left the council with a 26% gap in emission reductions for the transportation sector needed by 2030.

Without the CHS, Duval said the council’s legal responsibility regarding GHG emissions policy planning is on “really uncertain ground.” The standard is designed to meet the thermal sector’s share of state emission reductions, which is 34% of the needed total, according to the climate plan.

The next largest emission reducing strategy in the initial climate plan is adoption of California’s Advanced Clean Cars II regulation, which Duval said could deliver a 10% reduction for the state.

In the absence of policies passed by the legislature and governor, the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (ANR), by the end of this year, must adopt and implement rules consistent with the climate plan to achieve the GWSA’s 2025 emissions target. ANR also must adopt rules by 2026 and 2040 to achieve the state’s 2030 and 2050 targets, respectively, should state laws not provide a pathway for those targets.

The GWSA allows any person to sue the ANR secretary if sufficient rules are not adopted as required by law or if adopted rules fail to achieve target reductions.

In a statement Monday, climate advocates said Scott’s veto “disregards” the work put into designing an equitable transformation of the state’s thermal sector, 74% of which is fossil fuel-based.

“With millions of dollars in fossil fuel spending flowing out of our economy each year and oil and gas prices more volatile than ever, the Scott administration’s decision to veto this landmark climate bill represents a major environmental and economic misstep,” said Jordan Giaconia, public policy manager at Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility.

The General Assembly is set to adjourn May 17, leaving a short window of opportunity for legislators to bring forward bill language that could satisfy Scott’s interest in robust oversight of CHS rulemaking.