From Retailer to Representative: Chris Keyser’s Road to the Vermont State House

by Rhonda Gerson, Oil & Energy Magazine

How a former fuel dealer helped put a stop to Vermont’s Clean Cars and Clean Trucks bills

After 40 years as a fuel retailer, Chris Keyser sold his company and was ready for retirement. He envisioned years of travel and relaxation with his wife, visiting with their three children and four grandchildren, and lots of hunting, fishing, and hiking. It was a dream shared with many of his colleagues in the industry.

Then, a conversation with his local state representative and a call from the governor woke him up to a new dream – running for the State House.

The short version of the story is that in 2024 Keyser ran and won, and now sits on the Transportation Committee for the Vermont House of Representatives and created a movement to stop Vermont’s implementation of California-styled electric vehicle mandates. But there is so much more to know about his journey.

Driving Change in Montpelier with H.503

As a freshman in the House, Keyser was assigned to the House Transportation Committee, where they review the policies and the money to build needed infrastructure. The “T-Bill” – a transportation bill of approximately $900 million – is the committee’s major undertaking.

Keyser was familiar with the Advanced Clean Car (ACC) standard for the state, but not as knowledgeable about the ACT. Vermont’s adoption of the “California Car Rule” requires 35 percent of new vehicles delivered to Vermont to be electric by Model Year 2026, rising to 100 percent by 2035. The “Truck Rule” requires 10 percent of new medium and heavy-duty trucks to be electric in 2026. Keyser introduced legislation (H.503) to delay implementation of the regulation. These rules were set in place despite lackluster interest from consumers and severely insufficient infrastructure for commercial charging. Furthermore, costs for electric trucks can be three times more than comparable diesel vehicles with a much shorter range and lower transport capacities.

“Hearing about this, it sparked my inquiry. I started asking questions. It was obvious what was going to happen. I found a representative for Peterbilt on my social media feed and had him come in and testify. He told us, ‘if this becomes law, you’re going to destroy industry, affect people’s lives, and also kill future investment.’ Looking at revenue for the state; we sell about 6,000 class 3-8 trucks per year. You kill those sales, you’re looking at a loss of $15 million a year,” Keyser explains. “Transportation funding is matched by Washington, depending on the project, 9-to-1 or 5-1. So that $15 million works out to be a loss of purchasing power somewhere between $75 million and $135 million.”

Keyser says that had he known about the ACT before the term started, he would have come into the session in January with a prepared bill in hand, or would have tried to get it into the T-Bill. As it was mid-term, he sponsored H.503, which would have postponed the ACT by five years. “I got a good response, and 42 other cosponsors, including several Democrats,” Keyser says. “Which was a coup, I think, to get anyone from the other side to sign on.”

The bill was brought up and sent to committee, where the Democratic leadership left it “on the wall” and never brought it to vote. It can still be raised next year, but by then the 2026 requirements will have been put into place by then.

“It looks like a lot of work for nothing, but it raised the temperature here. I was a spear. It went to the Governor, and he’s aware of what’s going on,” said Keyser.

Keyser held out hope that Governor Scott would take action, following the example set by the governors of Massachusetts and Maryland. Which is exactly what happened in early May, a few days after our conversation, when Governor Phil Scott issued an Executive Order directing the Agency of Natural Resources to pause enforcement of Vermont’s electric vehicle (EV) sales mandates. Matt Cota, with the lobbying firm Meadow Hill, testified in Keyser’s committee several times about the need to pull the plug on the program.

“Representative Keyser helped shine a light on the problems with these EV mandates and created an opportunity to revisit the regulation, which led to the Governor’s Executive Order,” according to Cota.

Jim Collura, President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Energy & Fuels Institute (NEFI), added, “It is right in character for Chris to look at a situation, see through the pomp to understand its long-term negative impact on Main Street businesses and consumers, and take the steps to change it for the better. Vermont has been on the leading edge of the anti-liquid fuels movement for years, with its Clean Heat Standard, Global Warming Solutions Act, and adherence to the California Clean Air Act waivers. With Chris working in the legislature alongside Governor Scott, there is a chance for him to effect real change.”

Keyser is looking longer term at Vermont’s Clean Heat Standard and Global Warming Solutions Act. As with his bill, recent bills put in place by fellow Republicans to repeal those laws have languished in the Democratic-led House and Senate.

“In one way, if nothing happens that moves these repeals along this year, I’m OK with that, in a completely political way. The Democrats are taking the same approach that caused them to get voted out of Washington last year,” Keyser said. “We [Republicans] believe, ‘go ahead and do that. You can. But you’re digging your own graves.’ I almost hope they will be successful in postponing repeals so Republicans will have more ammunition to use against their opponents next year.”

Familiar Territory

His current career as a legislator may be his third profession, but Keyser is no stranger to the Vermont State House. Politics runs in his family – his grandfather, F. Ray Keyser Sr., was in the House of Representatives in the 1930s and then was named to the Vermont Supreme Court. His father, Frank Ray Keyser Jr., was also in House of Representatives, and then served as governor from 1961 – 1963. Governor Keyser was the first Republican to lose the Governorship since the founding of the Republican party in the 1850s, a change his son blames on “the rise of Democrats in the Burlington area” after the U.S. Supreme Court changed state representation requirements from a town-based model to a population-based model. “The rural representatives were reduced, and Burlington and the Democratic areas increased, so there was movement away from the Republican ideal,” he recalls.

“I grew up around a family of lawyers, jurists, and governors. I remember sitting around listening to people, they were discussing current topics. My mother, my grandmother, were all involved in politics. It seemed they were talking in studied tones, like an argument with an attorney or a judge – it was natural and usual to have a debate and exchange of ideas,” Keyser remembers.

“In my family, I also saw the negative impact of politics. I decided the best way to give back was to work in the community. ‘From those who are given much, much is required,’ is my motto. I thought I’d be more helpful creating jobs in the community,” Keyser adds.

Keyser spend his first years after college in recreational management – taking care of golf courses, ski areas, and the like. He always wanted to stay in Vermont, and when the opportunity arose in 1979, he and his father bought a local fuel dealership. He owned Keyser Energy for 40 years, expanding through nine acquisitions to provide fuels and heating services across three states, until selling the company to HOP Energy and retiring in 2019.

During his decades as a fuel dealer, Keyser was also deeply involved building the industry, as a founding member of NORA’s Board of Directors in the early 2000s, as the Chair of the NEFI Board from 2008 – 2010, as president of the Vermont Oil Heating Association (now Vermont Fuel Dealers Association), and with the Petroleum Marketers of America (now Energy Marketers of America).

“I worked closely with Chris in my first years with NEFI. He was a teacher and a mentor. His knowledge of and passion for the industry helped forge the shape of organizations such as NORA and NEFI,” Collura says.

It was an otherwise inauspicious day in August 2024 when Keyser, on his way to go hunting, ran into his representative. “We only have about 4,200 people in my district, so he and I started visiting. I knew he was a Democrat, almost a progressive, and in the course of the conversation I realized he wasn’t representing me the way I wanted. I told him that, and he said, ‘You don’t understand.’ There’s a lot I don’t understand, but I know what’s in my head. He got me mad! I went on a hike to cool down, and was halfway up the hill when my phone rang. It was the Governor, and he asked me to run.”

The rest is, as they say, history. Or, more accurately, current events. Keyser canvassed 400 of the 800 households and spent a lot of time on the trail. His work in the community had earned him high positive marks against an opponent with many negatives, and he won by 16 percent.

As the former Executive Director of Vermont Fuel Dealers Association, Cota has known Keyser for 20 years. “I can say that he was enjoying his retirement, but he’s also enjoying this new role. We need people in the Legislature who have expertise in business and government, and Chris certainly has both.”

Keyser confirms that sentiment. “I’m enjoying myself. I like it better than I thought. You’ve got to get some seniority to get influence, and I look forward to being here a while to get to that point and make a difference. Lower taxes, do other things to bring balance to the Republic,” he concludes.

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