Northfield--Lieutenant Governor Brian Dubie was recognized by the Vermont Environmental Consortium on Tuesday, September 14, in the Milano Ballroom at Norwich University, for his work during the past year to promote the growth of Vermont’s environmental goods and services sector through his Green Valley Initiative. The Green Valley is an economic development initiative that Dubie launched in December of 2003, as a way to support and retain existing environmental goods and services (EGS) businesses, and to promote the formation of new EGS companies in Vermont.

Lieutenant Governor Dubie has worked to open and expand export markets for Vermont’s EGS firms while on a trade missions to Asia and Canada.

The Vermont Environmental Consortium (VEC) is a partnership of private companies, government agencies, and educational institutions joining forces to develop Vermont’s environmental sector. The non-profit organization, formed in 2001, has a mission to grow the environmental sector in the state (based on gross sales) by 100 percent in five years. Several times a year, the VEC, in partnership with Norwich University, sponsors panel discussions to open a dialogue about environmental technology issues facing Vermonters. On September 14, the VEC and Norwich University presented The 4th Annual Vermont Environmental Exposition with a program entitled "The Green Valley."

Dubie said that together, the Green Valley and the VEC are strengthening collaborative relationships among research institutions, colleges, and universities, state and federal government, the agricultural community, manufacturers, and private sector EGS firms. "With this support mechanism in place, Vermont can become the center for innovative environmental technologies and services, much as Silicone Valley is the Center for IT," Dubie said.