The Environmental Protection Agency has postponed its decision on the restoration of Lake Champlain’s water quality until next spring.
Stephen Perkins, director of ecosystem protection for the EPA’s Boston office, said Wednesday the agency will issue an order by spring 2015, the latest delay in a decision that had been due this fall.
Perkins said the agency had to slow down its work due to staffing issues. But he said it made sense to roll out parts of the ruling by mid-November and take public feedback. He also said EPA wants to see what action the Vermont Legislature takes this session and hear the details of the Shumlin administration’s clean-up funding proposal.
The state is required under the federal Clean Water Act to adopt new standards for phosphorus pollution into Lake Champlain. EPA ordered the state to improve its water quality plan in 2011.
The state’s proposed Total Maximum Daily Load, or TMDL, aims to reduce phosphorus loading by 36 percent. Gov. Peter Shumlin on May 29 sent a letter of commitment to EPA on implementing the plan.
David Mears, commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation, said the state can continue to work on a TMDL plan while waiting for EPA to issue a final order.
“If the final doesn’t come out until next spring, that doesn’t slow us down at all in terms of bringing the issues to the Legislature,” he said.
Phosphorus is the chief source of toxic summer algae blooms in Lake Champlain, a thick, green scum common during the later months in St. Albans and Missisquoi Bays. The phosphorus comes from agricultural fertilizer, sewage and runoff from developed areas that washes into the lake when it rains.
That’s why the state has focused its attention on runoff from farms, roads, forests and urban development. The Shumlin administration maintains that it is not worth investing millions in upgrades to wastewater treatment plants, which it estimates would reduce phosphorus loading by only 3 percent.
EPA has repeatedly asked the state to limit phosphorus pollution from wastewater treatment plants. In its May letter to the state, EPA said the state will not meet its reduction targets in the Missisquoi Bay and South Lake segments by focusing only on nonpoint sources.
Perkins said he has signaled to the state that it is unlikely that EPA would place no requirements on wastewater treatment plants.
Nonetheless, he said EPA is deciding whether it makes sense to target only certain sections of the lake rather than a “broad-brush approach” that would apply uniform regulations to all wastewater treatment plants.
Mears said the state will have to implement the plan ordered by EPA. He said the state is willing to make upgrades to plants, especially in areas where it is necessary to improve water quality.
He said the state is asking for flexibility with the time and method to achieve pollution reduction because the state and communities have limited financial and staffing resources to make upgrades.
He said some treatment plants need to be upgraded anyway, and it makes sense to include additional pollution reduction controls during this process.
Shumlin is expected to present lawmakers with a proposal to pay for the restoration of the lake in the next legislative biennium. In a recent interview, he said his administration is digging for federal money and asking private companies for support, and then will look for state dollars.
