FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 7, 2011
CONTACT:
Paul Brouha
802-467-3460
Rob Pforzheimer
802-467-1108
92 Queen Elizabeth Farm Ln.
Sutton, VT 05867
Appellants filed a notice of appeal to the Vermont Supreme Court of the rulings by the Vermont Environmental Court to reaffirm a stormwater construction permit for UPC Vermont Wind’s Sheffield project.
“It is our belief that the Environmental Court’s rulings are based on critical misinterpretations and applications of Vermont laws involving the Water Quality Standards (VWQS) and the issue of who has the burden of proof,” said Stephanie Kaplan, attorney for the appellants. “The decision is inconsistent with Vermont legal precedent, with legislative intent, and if allowed to stand eviscerates the VWQS when it comes to stormwater, which cannot be permissible under the Clean Water Act.”
The citizens argue that the most significant error the court made was ruling that monitoring of streams during construction and applying the numerical standards and anti-degradation requirements of the VWQS are not practical or necessary in the context of stormwater. The presumption that stormwater construction permittees that comply with Best Management Practices automatically therefore comply with VWQS creates a very far-reaching precedent that cannot be allowed to stand.
“What it means is that the State of Vermont is knowingly putting at risk and willingly trading off unique headwater stream ecosystems including the native brook trout and other species that inhabit them. These ecosystems exist only in isolated pockets across Vermont’s mountain landscape,” said Paul Brouha, a retired fisheries biologist and one of the appellants who live adjacent to the project.
