[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 184 (Wednesday, October 20, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7121-S7122]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     RECOGNIZING MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, Middlebury College, in my State of Vermont, 
is known worldwide as an outstanding educational institution. What is 
less well-known is that the college is also a leader in addressing 
climate change.
  The college first became carbon neutral not by simply purchasing 
carbon credits, but by doing the hard work of actually becoming carbon 
neutral, including the implementation of 123 individual efficiency 
projects that are collectively saving the college nearly $1 million a 
year. With that work complete, they set about securing their energy 
entirely from renewable sources--first, with one of the largest 
biodigesters in Vermont and, now, with a 5 megawatt solar array, that 
will provide 30 percent of the college's electricity.
  The project includes energy storage, which will benefit the electric 
grid by spreading out when the power enters the grid. Perhaps more 
importantly, that stored energy will also serve as a source of 
emergency power for a nearby hospital, Porter Medical Center. The 
project also involves two Vermont companies: Encore Renewable and Green 
Mountain Power.
  Earlier this month, it was an honor to join the groundbreaking for 
the project, where Middlebury College President Laurie Patton shared 
her vision for how to get to a better climate future. All should read 
her impressive remarks at the event, and I ask that a copy of them be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:


[[Page S7122]]


                                                 October 12, 2021.
       Good morning.
       I am so happy to be here with you today, and it's my honor 
     to share this podium on a beautiful autumn morning with my 
     friends and colleagues Chief Don Stephens, Senator Patrick 
     Leahy, Chad Farrell of Encore Renewable Energy, Matt Murphy 
     of Green Backer Capital, Mari McClure of Green Mountain 
     Power, Lieutenant Governor Molly Gray, Middlebury Select 
     board chairman Brian Carpenter, and the College's own Simone 
     Ameer. Senator Leahy, as a professor of religion I already 
     made arrangements with the heavens for this weather--so you 
     didn't need to make the law!
       We come together today as responsible stewards of this 
     planet and of this place we are blessed to call home--
     Ndakinna [in-DAH-keen-AH], the town of Middlebury, the county 
     of Addison, the state of Vermont.
       We gather to recognize the generations who came before us 
     in making this very place what it is today, and we do so in 
     service of the generations to come, to ensure that Ndakinna 
     [in-DAH-keen-AH], Middlebury, Addison County, and Vermont 
     remain places where the health of our environment is 
     paramount, and where our people can come together in concert, 
     rather than competition, to maintain a livable community and 
     planet.
       When we at Middlebury announced our Energy 2028 initiative 
     three years ago, we laid out an ambitious ten-year plan, 
     pledging that in a decade's time we would sharply reduce our 
     energy consumption as an institution; reduce and then 
     eliminate our investment in fossil fuels; craft a large 
     educational initiative to continue our research and 
     scholarship into climate change--and, in perhaps our boldest 
     promise, rely completely on renewable energy sources to power 
     our Vermont campus.
       The solar array project on which we break ground today 
     takes us one large step closer to realizing this goal, as it 
     is expected to provide nearly one-third of the energy needed 
     to power our campus. This groundbreaking comes on the heels 
     of the start-up of the largest anaerobic digester in the 
     Northeastern United States at the Goodrich Farm in nearby 
     Salisbury, another local project and partnership that is 
     supplying renewable natural gas to the College and community.
       Each of these efforts--indeed, all of our efforts to meet 
     our Energy 2028 goals--are collaborative by design, because 
     we all have a stake in the outcome. Just as our plan was 
     crafted in a spirit of independence, in which no individual 
     part could work without the other, the same can be said for 
     our partnerships. Remove any one of us, and we're not here 
     today. Remove any one of us, and we're not here today.
       In a few weeks, on a platform a little bit bigger than this 
     one and with just a few more people in attendance, the United 
     Nations Climate Change Conference will convene in Glasgow, 
     Scotland. The comparisons in scope between that and this, 
     here and there, may cause some to peer at us today and 
     wonder: what's the point? We're so small!
       As I have written and spoken in the past, a local 
     initiative such as this one is exactly the point, the point 
     being that local wisdom and local practices are the ideal 
     conditions to help put out the fire that is consuming our 
     planet. The sun is one of the oldest symbols known to humans; 
     it is in the earliest cave paintings tens of thousands of 
     years ago, and in the earliest spoken prayers of more than 
     3000 years ago. It is only fitting that we should return, 
     indeed come full circle, to the sun to heal our planet.
       We are so blessed to call this place home.
       The Green Mountains rest behind me.
       In my mind's eye, I can already envision the sheep that 
     will graze beneath the solar arrays, managing the vegetation 
     growing in these fields.
       And up above, in a sky that Sabra Field herself could have 
     painted, a golden light will not only illuminate the beauty 
     of our surroundings but will allow us to take another 
     critical step toward building a sustainable future.
       Thank you, everyone of you, for your help in building a new 
     world.
                                                 Laurie L. Patton,
     President, Middlebury.

                          ____________________