Editor’s note: This commentary is by Eric Wolinsky, an associate professor of construction management at Vermont Technical College who is a longtime waterfront property owner on St. Albans Bay and on the board of and past president of the St. Albans Area Watershed Association. He has been a registered engineer in Maine. The views expressed are his own.
To: Gov. Phil Scott; Agency of Agriculture, Food and Market Secretary Anson Tebbetts; Agency of Natural Resources Secretary Julie Moore
[S]ecretary Tebbetts said to Windham County farmers in a meeting on Nov. 22, “If you do have ideas that you think might help, we’re open for bold, experimental … anything you want to do.” (VTDigger, Nov. 22, 2017)
Lake Carmi is the place we should take this bold, experimental action. There should be an immediate and complete ban on the cultivation of corn in the Lake Carmi watershed along with a restriction to one cow per acre of pasture.
First, a little thought experiment. If Lake Carmi was pristine and someone came into the watershed wanting to intensively plant corn and keep as many cows as possible, which would ruin the water quality, would we let them do that? How much would we give up for the water quality in the lake.
There will be concern about how much it will cost. The cost of studies, aerators, regulators and bureaucrats is not insignificant. The losses to health, property and the pursuit of happiness from a toxic lake must also be accounted for. The cost of eliminating corn and keeping fewer cows will be less onerous than it appears when other savings and benefits are taken into account. In addition, there may be unexpected positive benefits to a change in farming practices. The current economic conditions for dairy farming are generally unsustainable; we need to find alternatives to the current model for economic reasons alone.
Will this work? All indications are that it will help dramatically and we have been willing to try other options with lower probabilities of success. We need to try this option.
Lake Carmi should be a gem and a point of pride for the state. The ruination of Lake Carmi and the state’s inability to address it is our black mark. It puts lie to our own best view of our state. Is it worth ruining our own vision of how good our state can be to allow this to go on?
The cleanup should be an example of the state of Vermont’s ability to solve problems. We believe ourselves to be a beacon to the other states on what environmental stewardship looks like. Lake Carmi is where we either pass or fail our own test.
We have it in our power to clean Lake Carmi. Let’s do it.
