More than 200 Vermonters are helping the state plan for its energy future. The Vermonters spent much of the weekend at the University of Vermont participating in the state-sponsored Deliberative Polling Event on Vermont’s Energy Future. t’s part of a process passed by the Legislature to have the Public Service Department to get as much public input as possible into how to meet Vermont’s electricity demands over the next five to 10 years. `In an ordinary survey, you get a picture of what people think. But in respect to any particular issue, most people know very little, and don’t talk much about it — or talk with people whose opinions are like their own,” said Robert Luskin, director of the Center for Deliberative Opinion Research at the University of Texas at Austin, who designed the survey. The people chosen for the survey represented a random sample of Vermonters of all ages, incomes and occupations. They were paid $150 and given meals and a night’s lodging. Results of the study will be used by lawmakers to help plan the state’s electric future.
The Boston Globe
Vermont Trying to Plan Energy Future
(Nov. 5)