Happy holidays!  All of us at VNRC wish you the best this season!

The 2012 legislative year is just around the corner.

Right after the New Year, lawmakers will be heading back to work in the second year of the legislative biennium. On Tuesday, Jan. 3, the session will formally open. That Thursday, Jan. 5, Gov. Shumlin will deliver his State of the State Address and a week later, on Thursday, Jan. 12, he will present his proposed budget to lawmakers.

As things gear up under the Golden Dome, you can learn more – like what bills have been introduced, when committees will meet, and what bills they will be discussing – by visiting the website for the Vermont Legislature here.

And, in early January, look for VNRC’s Special Legislative Preview in our next Enewsletter.

Meanwhile, if you have any questions about the legislature, or want to learn how you can participate, email Jake Brown at VNRC. Thanks and stay tuned to VNRC for regular communications about legislative developments in the coming months!

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During the last couple of months, VNRC's Water Program Director/Staff Scientist Kim Greenwood has spent some time on the water conference circuit, absorbing the latest science and policy developments in New England. A few examples:

At the Northeast Private Well Symposium she learned more about some of the potentially dangerous substances people are finding in their drinking water from wells; she learned how to work with tricky well water data, and all about hydrofracturing. View the excellent presentations here.

And at the recent conference of the Northeast Chapter of the International Erosion Control Association, Kim heard about new erosion control tools, got updates from EPA, and heard case studies of erosion prevention and sediment control related to the I-93 project in New Hampshire. 

Finally, at the New England Water Law and Policy Conference, Kim outlined VNRCs gains on controlling water pollution as part of a settlement agreement in the recent St. Albans Wal-Mart case. At the conference, it was clear: because water resources around New England are becoming increasingly polluted - and increasingly in demand – we should expect more difficult conversations in the coming years. For more information, click here. 

On December 3, some 250 Vermonters gathered at the 4th annual “Vermont Community Energy and Climate Action Conference,” and the pulse of the day was pure energy.  DPS Commissioner Elizabeth Miller and ANR Secretary Deb Markowitz launched the day with context on Vermont's energy realities. A stellar keynote from Kathryn Blume, delivered with heart and the perfect dose of levity, added a powerful urgency to the conference, and set the stage for the important work facing Vermont's communities and energy committees.

You can find links to the presentations given in the 14 workshops here. And to watch Kathryn Blume's keynote, Commissioner Miller's and Secretary Markowitz's opening remarks, and Bernie Sanders' special appearance click here.

Jordan Gonda Joins VNRC as Legislative Intern

VNRC has hired recent Vermont Law School graduate Jordan Gonda as our 2012 legislative intern. Jordan will begin work January 2.

“We are very fortunate to hire Jordan, who has strong academic credentials and a breadth of appropriate experience,” said Jake Brown, VNRC’s communications/government affairs director.

Jordan has a JD as well as a Master of Environmental Policy from VLS and holds a B.S. from East Stroudsburg University in Environmental Studies. She has held a judicial externship with the Vermont Environmental Court and has worked with an engineering firm and a county conservation district in Pennsylvania in the areas of wastewater and NPDES permitting. She also served two years in the National Guard.

“I’m looking forward to contributing to the good work of VNRC,” Jordan said.

Jordan will assist VNRC in keeping tabs on legislative activity by monitoring committee action, and will help us advance forward-thinking natural resources and energy legislation through the State House during the 2012 legislative year.

If you see Jordan in the State House or elsewhere, please be sure to introduce yourself.

At VNRC, It's Here a Tweet, There a Tweet!

There are now two “tweeters” at VNRC. Kate McCarthy, VNRC’s recently-hired sustainable communities director, is now tweeting, joining Jake Brown, VNRC’s communications/government affairs director, who has been using the tool for over a year. Twitter, the growing social media tool in which people can emit short bursts of information to their “followers” (and receive bursts back) is one of the ways VNRC is keeping in touch with the public, our members, the press, and decision-makers in state government.

If you are a Twitter user, you can follow Kate at @katevnrc or Jake at @jakevnrc.

For the person who has it all, why not give a gift that helps sustain, and enhance, our natural resources and vibrant communities? Like a gift membership to the Vermont Natural Resources Council?

Buy a membership for a family member or friend for as little as $35 and give them a year’s connection to our work through the windows of our beautifully illustrated and informative member magazine the Vermont Environmental Report, our E-alerts, and E-newsletter.

Click here to sign up. It’s easy!

A battle over citizen participation is at a high pitch this month in an Act 250 case regarding a proposal to expand a Wal-Mart in Bennington.

Several months ago, VNRC and the Citizens for a Greater Bennington appealed a denial of their ability to participate as parties – and not just as “friends of the commission” – in the Act 250 review of the project. Along with the appeal, concerned citizens submitted a new round of affidavits outlining their concerns over such issues as traffic, compliance with the town plan, and negative impacts to the vitality of the downtown.

Now, even before the court has ruled on whether the citizens and VNRC have party status, Wal-Mart filed a motion trying to dismiss their entire appeal.  

“There is no legal precedent that supports Wal-Mart’s argument that the citizens do not have the right to appeal the denial of their party status in this case,” said Jamey Fidel, general counsel for VNRC. “This sort of wrangling shows how difficult and costly it can be for citizens to participate as parties in the environmental review of large projects,” Fidel added.

Irene: How Wetlands Helped Take the Edge Off

While tropical storm Irene was clearly widespread and severe, some areas of the state fared better than others. Otter Creek is an interesting example, The Nature Conservancy noted in a recent open letter.

The Otter Creek runs from Rutland past Middlebury into Lake Champlain in Ferrisburgh. An extensive, broad and flat floodplain area lies between Rutland and Middlebury and includes a wide area of wetlands.

When Irene’s rains hit, in Rutland the Otter Creek peaked at almost 19,000 cubic feet per second – the highest ever recorded in that location. But, 30 miles downstream, in Middlebury, the river’s peak was just 7,000 cubic feet per second. What happened?  Between Rutland and Middlebury, the water spread out and was slowed down by the Otter Creek swamp complex, The Nature Conservancy noted.

Protecting these wetlands and floodplain areas so that they can absorb big blasts of water is critical to diminishing the power of floodwaters like those associated with Irene, according to The Nature Conservancy.

In 2010, VNRC was instrumental in getting more protective wetlands rules in place in Vermont. Click here to learn more.

The Ethan Allen Amtrak train, which runs from Rutland to New York City, will be 15 minutes faster thanks to recent improvements to tracks between Rutland and Whitehall, N.Y. The work focused on raising the speed of the slower spots rather than raising the top speed of the train’s route.

It is expected that these improvements will lead to increased ridership, according to the Vermont Rail Action Network.  

“A faster, on-time train is a more competitive choice,” said Christopher Parker, the executive director of the Vermont Rail Action Network. “Better train service will make Rutland and its region a more competitive choice for visiting New Yorkers, leading to an economic gain.”

Last week, Gov. Peter Shumlin, Public Service Commissioner Elizabeth Miller (at right) and other administration officials released the final Vermont Comprehensive Energy Plan, which sets a necessarily ambitious goal that Vermont meet 90 percent of our total energy from renewable sources by 2050.The plan puts a high priority on energy efficiency and recommends far greater use of clean, renewable sources for electricity, heating and transportation to meet this goal.

The plan puts a high priority on energy efficiency and recommends greater use of clean, renewable sources for electricity, heating and transportation to meet this goal.

“We worked hard both at the Department of Public Service and in other state agencies and departments to create a robust public engagement process and to draft a comprehensive energy plan that responds to Vermonters’ desire to increase usage of renewable energy for the benefit of our environment, our economy, and our long-term energy security,” said Elizabeth Miller, commissioner of public service.

The plan will require significant, ongoing public engagement if it is to serve as the catalyst for the kind of clean energy solutions that a warming climate and our economic prosperity demand. Check it out here and stay tuned to VNRC for opportunities to ensure this guiding document serves its much-needed purpose.

Last Minute Gift Idea – Buy Local Vermont!

The 2011-2012 Local First Vermont Resource guide and Coupon Book is now available at dozens of locations around Vermont. It’s a great gift for the holidays (or even post-holiday!) The booklet, which sells for $10, provides short overviews of the many local, socially responsible businesses that are so critical to Vermont’s economy and communities and also contains several hundred valuable coupons offering big savings on a huge variety of products and services from Vermont companies, from shoes to coffee, from pet food to sporting goods, from meals at restaurants to energy audits. Buying local keeps our dollars circulating in the Vermont economy – and that’s a good thing for us all!

Click here to see where you can pick up your Buy Local Local First Vermont Resource Guide.

And click here to see all the businesses and organizations involved in the 2011-2012 resource guide.

In many ways, Vermont rebounded amazingly quickly after Irene. Strong coordination among agencies, help from the National Guard and crews from other states, as well as work by citizens themselves, were the main reasons for the quick rebuild, a Dec. 5 New York Times story suggests.

The story also notes that Mary Watzin, the dean of the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at UVM has warned policymakers that “armoring” and straightening of rivers could set Vermont up for worse damage in future years. Read the story here.

By some accounts a failure because of its glacially slow and imprecise progress, and by other accounts an important step forward within the context of United Nations international agreements, the Durban climate talks wrapped up on Dec. 11.

Notable is that 194 countries did agree to a plan that has legal force to reduce climate pollution. Further, China and India agreed to this approach for the first time, something the U.S. Congress has viewed as essential in order to ratify an international agreement. Countries also agreed to an extension of the Kyoto Protocol for another five years, and to specific guidelines for transparent reporting of emissions reductions. The nations also agreed to a Green Climate Fund to help developing nations contend with climate change, and help to developing countries to get access to the latest low carbon technologies. Click here for an analysis of the talks by the Union of Concerned Scientists.