Regional leaders call for more efforts to combat global warming

QUEBEC CITY — Gov. Jim Douglas and Quebec Premier Jean Charest are calling for the adoption of a host of energy measures to combat global warming.

In opening remarks at the Conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers forum on energy and the environment, Douglas said the region should be proud of the work completed to date.

Douglas said a greater reliance on conservation, efficiency and renewable sources of energy is a key component of the entire region’s economic and environmental future.

The five eastern provinces of Canada and the six New England states have worked together on many issues for more than three decades, Douglas said. And, that partnership faces new challenges.

“The issues may seem more vexing,” Douglas said. “Certainly global warming and greenhouse gases have become increasingly pressing issues. But this forum is an important step in acknowledging our common needs and our common goal of a unified regional plan on energy and the environment.”

Douglas’ remarks come as governors in the United States and premiers in Canada are taking it upon themselves to combat the ever-increasing emission of greenhouse gases and the effects they have on the environment and the economy.

Douglas pointed to Vermont’s leadership in tackling these issues.

“I’m proud of the work we’ve done in Vermont to encourage renewable energy generation, increase energy efficiency, contain electric rates and plan for a responsible, affordable energy future,” he said. “We established a clean energy fund; expanded a system allowing Vermonters to self-generate renewable electricity; and instituted clean energy rates that allow us to purchase electricity solely from renewable sources.”

He also pointed out Vermont’s leadership in the regional greenhouse gas initiative, a multi-state pledge to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 10 percent by 2019.

Douglas is co-hosting the regional meeting with Charest, and energy and environmental officials from all 11 jurisdictions. The group is expected to iron out the details contained in more than a half-dozen recommendations on reducing energy use, stepping up the availability of renewable sources of energy, and finding ways to make transportation options more environmentally friendly.

Those recommendations will be formally debated and approved when the premiers and governors meet in June.

Vermont’s youth anti-smoking campaign to get funding boost

WASHINGTON — The American Legacy Foundation announced it will deliver its successful youth smoking prevention message to more youth in Vermont.

Through a $3.6 million matching grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the foundation will increase its advertising in the state and target the Burlington and Plattsburgh, NY markets in order to reach a broader range of youth, including youth in surrounding smaller cities that typically have less exposure to such campaigns.

"Every day, approximately 4,000 young people try smoking for the first time," said Matt McKenna, director of the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health. "Counter-marketing campaigns like truth® are effective in reducing tobacco use and an essential component of evidence-based tobacco prevention and control programs."

Reaching youth who are open to smoking is especially important for Legacy, given that more than 80 percent of smokers start before they turn 18 years old. In Vermont, 17.9 percent of high school students currently smoke, and for many of those youth, experimenting with smoking can then become a lifelong addiction that leaves them vulnerable to tobacco-related diseases, such as cancers, heart disease, emphysema and stroke.

“We must overcome the toll tobacco is taking on American youth,” said Cheryl Healton, president of the foundation. “While we’ll never be able to match Big Tobacco’s spending on marketing, we know that the truth® campaign is an effective counter-marketing effort created to contend with the $41 million that the tobacco industry spends — every single day — to encourage Americans to smoke its addictive products.”

In addition to Vermont, truth® advertising will increase in 17 other states and 40 cities across the country, with outreach focusing on surrounding smaller communities that have less exposure to truth® because of low cable television penetration. Many of the states — all part of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between attorneys general and the tobacco industry — also have high numbers of teen smokers.

"Too many of our rural youth have unacceptably high smoking rates. We need to bring highly effective truth® ads to teens who are bombarded with industry advertising and promotions. The good news is that this grant could save thousands of lives," said Bill Sorrell, Vermont’s attorney general and chairman of the legacy foundation. Legacy’s truth® ads are the only national tobacco-prevention campaign not directed by the tobacco industry.

CDC funds for grant year 2007 are being matched 2.3 to 1 by the American Legacy Foundation and will continue for two additional grant years (2008, 2009) subject to the availability of funds. The federal share of the money for the first year accounts for 30 percent, or $1.2 million, of the total funds being used for the youth tobacco prevention project. The remaining 70 percent will be the matching, non-federal share provided by the foundation, for approximately $2.8 million.

Posted February 12, 2007

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