Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship
Vermont lakes and ponds could now be on watch with a new water working group.
S.223, which is coming up for vote on May 5, would create a water quality study group to assess how to implement federal water quality policy and whether the state’s water classification system is adequate.
The bill stems from the Clean Water Act, a federal law which, in part, requires states to have an anti-degradation policy for their waters. This policy aims to maintain and protect water quality when development occurs nearby.
While Vermont has adopted an anti-degradation policy, it still hasn’t formalized a rule on how to carry it out and let people know how to manage bodies of water, according to Michael O’Grady, deputy chief counsel of the Vermont Legislative Counsel when he testified in front of the House Committee on Environment on March 19.
As of now, the state has an interim procedure, which was created in 2010 and refined in 2021 by the Agency of Natural Resources and a small stakeholder group as a rule.
Within this new study group, members would evaluate the state’s anti-degradation policy and regulation with the goal of identifying any legislation or changes in law to create an anti-degradation implementation rule.
The group would also evaluate the state’s existing classification system, which establishes how bodies of water can be used and how they must be managed to maintain their quality. Class A water bodies, for instance, are typically the cleanest waters that are either used for drinking or are above 2,500 feet and carry the highest level of protection from development, according to the Department of Environmental Conservation.
By default, all other waters below 2,500 feet are Class B unless public interest and data show they should meet a higher classification.
O’Grady said since Vermont hasn’t been updating its water classification system, many Class B waters could actually fall under Class A, affording them higher protections.
“You’re not supposed to do any activity that’s going to degrade that Class A water beyond its current uses,” O’Grady added. “But how would you know that?”
Pat Suozzi, the president of the Vermont Federation of Lakes and Ponds said: “You can have a policy, but then you have to have the step-by-step rules for people to know what they’re supposed to do to make the policy work.”
That’s where the anti-degradation implementation rule comes into play.
In 2021, the Agency of Natural Resources determined that 13 water bodies were eligible to be reclassified to Class A levels. Four lake associations — Maidstone Lake, Echo Lake, Caspian Lake and Shadow Lake — along with their municipalities, were petitioned to do so, according to Suozzi.
The petition remained unresolved because of legislative and administrative barriers, Suozzi told the Senate Committee on Natural Resources on Feb. 13.
After hearing about reclassification last year, the sponsor of the bill, Sen. Seth Bongartz, D-Bennington, said he wanted to learn why lake health across the state was deteriorating.
“We are decades late in adopting an anti-degradation rule and therefore our reclassification system has come to a halt,” he said.
Bongartz added that what really gives the bill legs is involvement from businesses and developers.
“We had both the business community wanting to gain a bit more certainty, and people like me focused especially on lake health and wanting to move forward and get ourselves out of this no man’s land,” he said.
Warren Coleman, a partner from lobbying firm MMR, said the study group would educate lawmakers on the work that went into writing the interim procedure. He said he expects the group would end up recommending a formal implementation rule, which would provide “user-friendly” guidance to developers.
“It is a much clearer approach and document … so people can understand what the expectations are when they are going to seek a permit,” he said, later adding that “all these pieces do touch on really any of the permitting programs that we have in the state.”
The 12-member group would include two state representatives, two state senators and water experts. One of the four lawmakers would be selected as chairperson.
“There’s an opportunity to help educate the legislators that will be part of this study group to evaluate the various work that’s been done,” Coleman said.
The bill would take effect on passage. The study group would be required to convene by Aug. 15 for about seven months, with the intention of submitting a report to the legislature by Dec. 15.
“The real thing is,” Bongartz said, “are we actually protecting the ecological integrity of lakes and ponds?”