Summer is in full swing and there is nothing better than playing for a full, long day in Vermont's beautiful outdoors – a precious landscape that VNRC works hard to protect and enrich for summers to come.

This edition of E-News highlights exciting action in state agencies, the update of Vermont's environmental permitting structure, and upcoming events to mark on your calendars.     

Thank you to the thousands of VNRC members and activists who make our work possible! Your support and dedication mean a lot to us – and to Vermont.

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Forests, Wildlife, and Communities Project Advances

VNRC has been actively testing new approaches to promoting forestland and wildlife conservation at the municipal level. VNRC has been working with a diverse group of government officials, state and federal agencies, and conservation organizations. For example, VNRC has been providing technical assistance to three towns in the Mad River Valley as a model approach to conservation planning in Vermont.

Click here for the full update or contact Jamey Fidel at jfidel@vnrc. org or Brian Shupe at bshupe@vnrc.org. 

The Vermont Natural Resources Council has an exciting opportunity for a motivated individual with a minimum of 2-4 years of experience in community planning, land use law, natural resource conservation or sustainable development. Working with our small, committed staff from our Montpelier offices, the Sustainable Communities Program Director will oversee VNRC’s work on local and state land use and community development policy; provide technical support to members, state and regional agencies and municipalities; and work closely with our Forests & Wildlife, Energy & Climate Action, and Water Programs on an integrated approach to meeting the challenges facing Vermont’s environment and communities. Click here for more information. 

Agricultural law will be the focus of two upcoming panels at the Vermont Law School. On Tuesday, July 26, a panel entitled “Sustainable Agricultural Law Careers” will feature Annette Higby of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, Kenneth Miller of Law for Food and Jim Libby of the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board. 

On Thursday, August 4, a panel entitled “Unlocking the Farm Bill” will feature Marne Coit of Greenfield Research and Consulting and Tom Berry of Senator Leahy's Office.

Each panel runs from 4:15 – 5:45 p.m. Both events are free and open to the public. For more information contact Peg Elmer at pelmer@vermontlaw.edu.

A rally to demand solutions to the climate crisis will take place September 24 from 3-5 p.m. at the Vermont State House. The day will be one in which rallies are held around the world to demand action on climate change.

In an invitation to join rallies around the globe, climate change author and activist Bill McKibben writes: "(The) feeling of being stuck is how we’ve felt in the climate movement for years now. The scientists have told us why we must change--and every record flood and heat wave adds to their message. The engineers have told us how we can change, as they’ve quickly turned windmills and solar panels from promising experiments into tested technology. The only thing now preventing change is the hold of the financially powerful status quo--all those coal and oil barons, and their friends in high government places, keeping us stuck in the polluting mud of inaction." Click here for more information about Vermont's event.

In mid-August, the Department of Public Service will be releasing a "2011 Public Review Draft" of the statewide Comprehensive Energy Plan. The department, which is charged with crafting and implementing this important guiding document, is now culling through public comments they have received over the past several weeks. Stakeholders and the public will then have until mid-December, at public hearings or in writing, to comment on the 2011 draft. As the document that will guide the state in its energy decisions and actions for the next 20 years, public input to shape the best vision and plan is imperative. Visit the Vermont Comprehensive Energy Plan website for more information, to review the working draft and to submit your comments. Also, click here to read VNRC's Energy Program Director, Johanna Miller's article that recently ran in the Times Argus/Rutland Herald. 

“Only a final decision on the merits could actually resolve or even ameliorate the uncertainties and dilemmas Entergy faces in making investment decisions regarding Vermont Yankee’s upcoming order for nuclear fuel and a refueling outage,” Murtha said.

VNRC supports retiring the aging Vernon plant on schedule in 2012.

The Natural Resources Board is beginning its review of Vermont’s environmental permitting system and is seeking comments from Vermonters.

Over the past several years, VNRC has recognized the environmental permitting process is complicated and costly for citizens and has been advocating for a restructuring of the system. This review of the system, we hope, is the first step toward a move toward a better- coordinated, easier-to-navigate system that maintains and enhances our environmental protection standards.

The NRB will be taking recommendations to the Legislature in January on ways to make the process more effective, efficient, user friendly, open, better coordinated, quicker and less costly. Read more, and file your own comments here.

ANR Secretary Deb Markowitz recently urged developers to look first at redeveloping “brownfields” – generally disused, contaminated industrial sites that can be cleaned up  – before looking to open green space outside of downtowns. She said ANR’s goal is to redevelop three to five brownfields every year that are complex, high profile, and crucial for communities. The projects would serve as models for future projects, she said.

Her comments came at a conference on brownfields held at Vermont Law School in June.

Brownfields redevelopment is a form of “smart growth” in that it usually involves properties that are near transportation and other infrastructure, other businesses, and even residential areas. By redeveloping existing buildings or sites, there is less pressure to develop Vermont’s farm and forestland.

The newly-created ECOS Project in Chittenden County wants to hear from you. The steering committee of this three-year sustainability project for Vermont’s most populous county wants input between now and mid September on their goal statements.

The goal of the ECOS project is to identify and implement strategies that improve Chittenden County’s long-term sustainability by addressing public and private costs in transportation, housing, energy and land use and social equity.

It will also provide the basis for updating the Chittenden County Regional Plan, The Chittenden County Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Plan, the Burlington Legacy Project Plan and the County’s Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy. Read more here.

The federal EPA has promulgated an air quality rule that is expected to significantly improve air quality by reducing power plant emissions that cross state lines. Vermont’s Agency of Natural Resources Secretary Deb Markowitz hailed the move.

“In addition to avoiding premature deaths and respiratory related illnesses, the pollution reductions from EPA’s rule will also lead to improvements in visibility in Vermont, and increased protection for sensitive ecosystems, such as mountains, lakes and forests.”       

Twenty seven states in the eastern half of the country (none of these are New England states) will work with power plants to cut air pollution under the rule, which leverages widely available, proven and cost-effective control technologies.

Click here for more information about the rule.