[T]he EPA is unlikely to roll back clean water requirements for Lake Champlain.
Federal funding, however, may dry up and drive up state costs even further, the Scott administration told lawmakers Monday.
Representatives from the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources explained the precarious finances of the federal program at a standing room only hearing held in a tucked away corner of the Statehouse. The House Committee on Corrections and Institutions heard testimony from Scott administration officials Monday as part of a review of a funding report.
Lawmakers also learned that inflation was not included in the estimated $2.3 billion in total costs for the 20-year cleanup effort. The state has revenue of $1.1 billion from existing state, federal and private funds. The remaining gap is $1.2 billion, which is the amount of new revenue needed from private and public sources.
Julie Moore, the secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources, said federal funding currently accounts for about 22 percent currently spent on clean water.
Moore said if Trump administration officials gut clean water laws, the state will still have to pay for a massive pollution-control effort to abate toxic bacterial blooms in Lake Carmi and Lake Champlain.
If the state tried to back out of the phosphorus pollution mitigation effort, which is spelled out in a federal mandate adopted last year, environmental advocates would likely sue to ensure the state upholds the law, Moore said.
The Act 73 Working Group, which was formed to study funding options for cleanup efforts, confirmed that the $1.2 billion gap estimate from State Treasurer Beth Pearce is accurate. Pearce has recommended that the state spend average of $62 million a year on phosphorus abatement. In the short term, the treasurer h
The Legislature earlier this year required in state statute that the Scott administration identify a long-term funding source, and draft legislation that would put that funding into place. But the study group did not submit a funding proposal. Instead, in a 70-page report released in mid-November, the group focused on a five-year period and revised Pearce’s cost estimates to justify not raising money in the short term.
The working group determined that the state doesn’t need to raise revenues until after 2024; the plan relies on bonding.
Moore insisted that the working group made important contributions to the discussion about lake cleanup. “We really advanced the conversation, contrary to some of the media reports,” Moore said.
Pearce said in a recent interview that the state needs to come up with $15 million a year in revenue for cleanup.
Sen. Chris Bray, D-Addison, has introduced a bill that would levy a per parcel fee.
Much of the cost of complying with the federal Clean Water Act is aimed at reducing phosphorus pollution from commercial fertilizer and cow manure used on farms, which accounts for about 40 percent of the chemical in Lake Champlain. Phosphorus feeds toxic algae blooms that are a hazard to human health. Beaches in Burlington have closed each of the past two summers and Lake Carmi was closed for several months this year.
CLARIFICATION: This story originally cited only the gap amount for water clean up. It has been updated to include all costs across federal, state and private payers.
