BURLINGTON — Lake Champlain and Vermont’s water infrastructure are set to receive millions of dollars in investments over the coming years as part of last year’s $1 trillion federal infrastructure law.
The bipartisan effort — which cleared Congress and was signed by President Joe Biden in November — directed $2.2 billion to Vermont over a five-year period. That money was aimed at improving an array of government services, such as roads, bridges and public transit. But at a press conference Thursday afternoon at the ECHO Center in Burlington, officials focused on the funds it allocated to clean water programs.
U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., called the infrastructure act “one of the most important legislative vehicles helping us move the country forward” and highlighted the funds it dedicated to repairing drinking water systems.
“One of the most substantial, important investments will be to restore environmental quality, clean water, safe drinking water to every American,” Leahy said. “It shouldn’t be safe drinking water only depending upon where you live. It should be to everybody.”
The infrastructure package included $40 million, spread out over five years, for a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency program dedicated to cleaning up Lake Champlain. In remarks at the press conference, Leahy said he would work to give the program even more money in the coming months from his seat on the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee.
The EPA’s deputy administrator, who joined Leahy for the event, lauded the senator’s efforts to bring lake cleanup funds to Vermont and called their implementation an appropriate model for how the agency should function.
“It is EPA’s major job to partner with local communities, with city governments, with counties and with state partners in order to implement those important environmental laws and get that money out into the community where it’s actually going to make a difference,” said Janet McCabe, the agency’s No. 2.
Much of the Lake Champlain money is slated for preventing phosphorus runoff that can lead to algal blooms around the lake in warmer months, said David Cash, the EPA’s administrator for the region.
The legislation also earmarked $63 million for the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Of that, $28.3 million is destined for replacing lead pipes that feed drinking water around the state, with another $10 million devoted to cleaning up drinking water contaminants such as polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
The lead replacement funding is so significant, it will be enough to rid the state of the hazardous and archaic materials, according to Kim Greenwood, deputy commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
“Once we remove those lead service lines, that problem disappears forever,” Greenwood said. “It’s an incredible opportunity and a rare opportunity in the environmental field to solve a problem once and for all.”
In addition to the environmental grants, Vermont is slated to receive $100 million in aid to prop up its broadband internet, $83 million in public transit funds and $21 million to bolster the state’s electric vehicle charging station network, according to officials.
During Thursday’s press conference, the ambient noise of children enjoying the ECHO Center’s facility wafted into the room, an observation that Leahy mentioned multiple times.
“That’s what we aim for. These are the kids … they’re the ones who are going to protect the lake, they’re going to protect our environment,” Leahy said. “And they’re gonna learn here.”
