October 11, 2011

So far Vermont has managed to preserve the integrity of its natural and social character, despite decades of the most rampant, fossil-fuel driven consumption this country has ever experienced. Many believe that Vermont is a place apart from the rest of the nation — having retained, with some striking exceptions, its historic settlement pattern of compact town centers surrounded by a billboard-free, open countryside of working farms and forests, streams and lakes, wetlands and wildlife habitats.

Until now that is.

While the past forty years of the conservation and environmental movements may have set Vermont on a path to a more healthy and secure state, challenges abound. The working landscape is eroding. Farms and forests are becoming fragmented and giving way to piecemeal development. This reality may demand strategies and techniques beyond those used so far, if the state is to maintain its open, working countryside.

According to the Vermont Council on Rural Development’s report on the future of Vermont, Vermonters rank “the working landscape and its heritage” more highly as a common value than any other. But practical realities are pulling in the opposite direction. The council predicts that if current trends continue, today’s working landscape will not exist for the next generation. 

One thing is for certain: The public has a common interest in the wellbeing of our working landscape, and citizens’ involvement in the permitting process is essential to protecting that interest.

For the last forty years, large development projects in Vermont have been regulated primarily by Act 250—Vermont’s landmark land use and development law. Act 250 was conceived in response to the dangers of unregulated development – the kind of practical realities that continue to threaten Vermont’s working landscape today.

Over the years, Act 250 has been the subject of much controversy. Certainly it has slowed the decline of Vermont’s environmental quality. But it has also been criticized for being overly complex and cumbersome. For the last few years, environmental groups such as the Vermont Natural Resources Council have been urging lawmakers and the administration to retool the state’s environmental permitting process to make it more accessible and less expensive for citizens.

Act 250 is a process that requires an informed and involved public, as well as visionary policy shaping. And the good news is that the Natural Resources Board, an arm of the state that coordinates local Act 250 commissions, is currently reviewing the rules that govern how and when citizens get a seat at the table in environmental permitting proceedings.

The board will develop recommendations for making the environmental protection process more efficient, more effective, more user-friendly, more open, and better coordinated.
As part of this process, the Natural Resources Board is asking the public for its thoughts on several key questions:

• What works well and what works poorly with Vermont’s environmental and land use permitting systems?
• How can a permit process best assure transparency and citizen input?
• How can a permit process best assure predictability and a timely response?
• Should the process be the same for a routine environmental permit, like residential wastewater, as it is for a more complex permit, like an Act 250 or other permit(s) for a large, complex project?

Now through the end of October, Vermonters are urged to participate in reshaping the permit processes that are designed to protect and enhance the state’s environment and communities. Vermont residents can participate in two ways. The Natural Resources Board is holding a series of public meetings around the state and urges interested people to attend. Information on the upcoming hearings is available below.

Written comments about how best to improve the system can be sent to the Natural Resources Board. To file written comments by e-mail, send them directly to: nrbcomments@state.vt.us. Written comments can also be mailed to:

Natural Resources Board, Environmental Protection Process Comments


National Life Records Center Building


National Life Drive
Montpelier, Vermont 05620-3201

All submitted comments become part of the public record and may be shared with others.

This is an important opportunity for the public, including neighbors and concerned citizens, to be welcomed into state permitting processes. The present Act 250 process makes it more difficult for Vermonters who would be affected by a proposed project to gain the status of a full participant. This opportunity to comment on public participation is important to the future of Vermont’s working lands and communities. The NRB should be commended for opening this issue up for public discussion. Whatever the outcome, the primary purpose of our permitting processes must be to protect the environment and provide all Vermonters with a say in how our communities grow and develop.

Whether you offer comments at a hearing, or in writing to the NRB, they need not be long. The most important thing is that Vermont continues its legacy of open government that is accessible to the citizens.
Public Meetings on improving Vermont’s environmental protection process

St. Johnsbury:

Tuesday, October 18, 2011, 7 – 9 p.m.
Catamount Arts Building, Cabaret Room (downstairs)
115 Eastern Avenue
St. Johnsbury, VT

Rutland:

Thursday, October 20, 2011, 7 – 9 p.m.
Asa Bloomer State Office Building, 2nd Floor Conference Room
88 Merchants Row
Rutland, VT

Brattleboro:

Thursday, October 27, 2011, 7 – 9 p.m.
Brattleboro Union High School, Multipurpose Room 
131 Fairground Rd., Brattleboro, VT