Environmental issues last year ranged from the expansion of a natural gas pipeline to Addison County, a new thermal efficiency program, the phase-in of the state’s mandatory recycling program and an ambitious plan to restore water quality in Vermont’s lakes.
Vermont Gas Pipeline Expansion
Vermont Gas Systems won Public Service Board approval for the first phase of a three-part pipeline expansion plan on the western side of the state. The 43-mile, $86.6 million transmission line connecting Colchester to Addison County was approved in a 157-page order last week.
The second phase of the pipeline would go from Middlebury to the International Paper mill in Ticonderoga, N.Y. The paper company would pay $45 million toward that project. Vermont Gas’ application for phase two is pending before the board.
The pipeline project has received mixed reviews in Addison County, but has the backing of local lawmakers and several towns along the proposed route. Vergennes recently voted to support the project in a municipal referendum in December. A group of landowners in Monkton, however, have criticized the project and Vermont Gas’ method for obtaining property easements.
Opponents of the project say some of the gas that will pass through the pipeline is derived by the process of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and is harmful to the environment.
The state’s landfill
Vermont’s only active landfill in Coventry has been approved to accept waste at nearly double its current rate. Casella Waste Systems Inc. will be able to accept up to 600,000 tons per year at its landfill in Coventry with a new permit from the Agency of Natural Resources raising the yearly limit from 370,000 tons.
This decision came after the state’s Environmental Court ruled this week that the active portion of the Moretown Landfill must remained closed. The consent order affirms a March decision by the Agency of Natural Resources to close the landfill and force the owners, Florida-based Advanced Disposal, to address contamination and odor concerns at the facility on U.S. Route 2. For more than a year, neighbors have complained about health problems associated with the use of chemicals to cover up sludge odors. Until recently, the landfill accepted sewage sludge from Massachusetts.
Recycling and composting
Meanwhile, the state is preparing to overhaul the state’s recycling program to curb the amount of waste that is landfilled. The Agency of Natural Resources released a 140-page report last week detailing the implementation of Vermont’s Universal Recycling Law, established last year under Act 148 to expand statewide recycling, redemption and composting.
The study includes options for removing and expanding the state’s “bottle bill” to include non-carbonated bottles, requiring waste districts to offer recycling at no additional charge – a service in part funded by added fees for trash removal – and composting for food scraps and lawn debris.
By July 1 next year, food processors with more than 104 tons of food waste per year will be required to compost their food residuals if a facility is located within their 20-mile radius. This is the first phase of a statewide mandate to compost all organic waste by 2020. According to a May 2013 study by the Department of Environmental Conservation, organics, by weight, account for about 28 percent of residential waste, outranking all other materials.
Lake Champlain TMDL
The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation and the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets released a draft plan for restoring the Lake Champlain Basin this month. The Environmental Protection Agency has ordered the state to revise its TMDL (total maximum daily load), which sets targets for phosphorus loading into Lake Champlain, or face federal funding cuts and significantly tightened regulations for sewage treatment plants and stormwater runoff.
The plan, which was vetted during several public meetings this winter, includes tightening the state’s agriculture programs, stormwater management practices, ensuring river channel stability, updating forest management practices and watershed protection plans. These are considered “nonpoint sources,” unlike the closely regulated facility discharges around the lake, that dump phosphorus into the lake.
The EPA is requiring that Vermont reduce its phosphorus load by 36 percent – from 533 metric tons to 343 metric tons of loading per year.
Some of the components of the plan, such as a statewide permit for town roads, are controversial. Local highways account for more than 11 percent of the state annual phosphorus load into the lake.
Nearly three-quarters of Vermont’s 11,000 miles of municipal roads need erosion control improvements. Municipalities are concerned about the cost of building more ditches, installing more culverts and possibly paving some dirt roadways in order to meet the requirements of the permt. Towns pay for roads through local property taxes and state grants.
Several components of the plan mirror natural disaster mitigation proposals. The Institute for Sustainable Communities released a report on flood resilience this winter after gathering feedback from residents affected by Tropical Storm Irene, which devastated the state with heavy rain and flooding in 2011.
Shoreline Protection
Early this year, the house passed a bill, H.526, requiring property owners to obtain a permit prior to building within 250 feet of any lakeshore. Environmental organizations hoped the Senate would enacts stricter standards, including a requirement for vegetative buffers along shorelines. Property advocates say the bill is an infringement on private ownership.
The Senate set up a Lake Shoreland Protection Commission to vet the bill in a series of hearings held around the state. Sen. Robert Hartwell, D-Bennington, chair of the Natural Resources Committee, plans to take up the legislation in January.
The House proposal is unpopular with many lakeshore property owners. At one summer hearing in Newport, residents wanted to know how much permits would cost and how the Agency of Natural Resources would enforce the regulations. At the time, officials could not answer either question.
