FRANKLIN — In an Earth Day press event with supporters, held near Lake Carmi, the most polluted body of water in Vermont, gubernatorial candidate James Ehlers took aim at the dairy industry.
Speaking from the porch of Franklin residents Judith McLaughlin and Rob Cormier a stone’s through away from Carmi, Ehlers said industrial farming has been a bad deal for Vermonters.
Lake Carmi was closed for several months last year because of toxic algae blooms fed by manure and commercial fertilizer from farms near the lake. Ehlers blamed Republican Gov. Phil Scott for failing to curb phosphorus emissions.
“There’s been a lot of political rhetoric about farms, and about the importance of farms, but it’s not just enough to talk about farms: We need to embrace small farms, the farms who have the ability to both feed us and protect the environment,” Ehlers said.
“Industrial agriculture, like most of the industries that have passed through Vermont over the years, they’ve sadly left a destructive legacy,” he said. “We can have farming, we can have agriculture, but we need to embrace Vermont-scale farming on the family farm. We will do that.”
Ehlers, a Democrat, released a 10-point plan at the press conference. Among other initiatives, he supports a $2 hotel tax fee proposed by lawmakers to support clean water mitigation efforts.
He also said he’d seek to reel in excessive fertilizer use that feeds blue-green algae blooms on Lake Carmi, Lake Champlain and other waterways.
“We’re going to ban the spreading of animal waste, and human waste,” in sensitive areas, he said. “For those of you who aren’t aware … it’s still legal to spread human waste on fields, in the state of Vermont — in flood plains: human waste. The best thing we can do for our environment and our farmers is have a governor who’s willing to lead on behalf of the small family farms and build a coalition that invests in the kind of world we want to see, not one that is just focused on shareholder profits the next quarter.”
Ehlers said Vermonters ought to be able to file suit against government officials who fail to uphold their legal responsibilities. Scott has opposed a legislative initiative that would give residents legal recourse, he said.
If elected, Ehlers said he would direct agency heads to uphold their legal responsibilities under current environmental laws.
As governor, Ehlers said he would rein in the use of chemical pesticides, beginning with the Agency of Transportation’s own pesticide arsenal.
“As a state, we should not be spreading poison across the landscape,” Ehlers said.
Rep. James McCullough, D-Williston, stumped for Ehlers at the event, and said Scott’s approach will prove expensive for Vermonters.
“The current administration has truly been dragging its feet, and in the process borrowing millions of dollars by selling state bonds to deal with our problems instead of taking it in the form of new fees or taxes,” McCullough said. “Who wants new fees or new taxes? But who wants their children to be paying interest rates 30 years from now on bonds that we’re selling by the millions to do what we’ve had to do? Not me: I’d rather operate out of receipts.”
Cormier, whose house overlooks an expanse of Lake Carmi, said he’s been disappointed with the current governor’s stewardship of the state’s public waters.
“The Scott administration hasn’t done a damn thing for the environment,” Cormier said. “If anything, they’ve roadblocked everything we’ve tried to do in the environmental world, and they’ve even — the people they send to us in the watershed meetings are testifying against us in the committee meetings.”
A gun enthusiast whose truck sports a pair of Trump stickers, Cormier said he was disappointed that Scott changed his position and signed into law restrictions on gun rights. Ehlers also supports the new firearms laws.
“Phil Scott shot himself in the foot with gun control,” Cormier said. “The gun owners are going to come out to vote this year, and the gun owners are going to come out and boycott Scott.”
“You can have pro-gun Democrats,” Cormier said. “I’m a pro-environment Republican. He’s a pro-gun Democrat.”
Even if their views don’t perfectly align, Cormier said, he’s still backing Ehlers.
“You can’t toe the party line — you have to tell who’s best for the situation,” Cormier said. “My belief is, Trump is best for the situation we’re facing in the United States itself; that’s another story itself. I believe James is the best guy we’re facing to fix the situations we’re facing here in Vermont.”
Ehlers faces two other Democrats in the Aug. 14 primary: Christine Hallquist, a former utility executive, and Ethan Sonneborne, a middle school student.
