The Vermont Public Service Board has reversed its 2005 ruling that required SuperMedia LLC to separate the FairPoint Yellow Pages and the FairPoint White Pages directories in Vermont. Beginning with the May distribution of the new print directory, the Yellow and White pages will be combined.

The primary issue, as we’ve discovered before in California and elsewhere, is that consumers are abandoning their print white directories in record numbers but directory publishers cannot get state legislators to abandon their laws requiring delivery to every household. For the struggling publishers, this is a hefty printing and delivery cost most simply can no longer afford to bear.

We first reported the possibility of such legislation in Calif. back in November. We just talked with a spokesperson for Calif. state Senator Leland Yee, who told us the attempt to discontinue mandated door to door white page delivery is now Senate Bill 920, with a scheduled hearing date of April 6 before the Committee on Energy, Utilities and Commerce. He also told us that similar legislation had passed in Cleveland, Ohio and Miami, Fla.

“Consumers have been asking us to switch back for years,” said Todd Sanislow, RVP at SuperMedia. “It has long been our position that requiring us to publish separate White Pages and Yellow Pages directories was not the best solution, as it is less environmentally friendly and also put us at an unfair disadvantage with our competition. We are pleased to provide the convenience of having both Yellow Pages and White Pages listings in the same directory once again, and the additional enhancements of the SuperGuarantee program and a larger font size.”

We talked with a SuperMedia spokesperson by e-mail about the legislated issue.

“SuperMedia is working together with its publishing partners (i.e. Verizon, FairPoint) to explore all listings provisioning option that would minimize the number of printed residential white pages subscribers receive while continuing to meet telephone utility regulatory obligations,” she told us. “Verizon and SuperMedia have followed AT&T’s Residential White Pages Consumer Choice Program launched in Austin and Atlanta.  We understand that less than 3 percent of residents in those cities have requested printed residential white pages. 

“Consumers are choosing their preferred method to receive listing information and at the same time environmental benefits such as decreased paper use; decreased paper in the waste stream and an overall reduction in our carbon footprint are resulting.  Providing customers a choice is subscriber friendly and environmentally friendly.”

Here’s the complete SuperMedia announcement.