In Permitting, Help Us Improve Citizen Access

The state is currently reviewing the rules that govern how and when citizens get a seat at the table in environmental permitting proceedings. If you care about good government like we do, we’d like your help.

For the last couple of years, VNRC has been urging lawmakers and the administration to retool the state’s environmental permitting process to make it more accessible and less expensive for citizens.

The good news is that the Natural Resources Board, an arm of the state that coordinates local Act 250 review, is now looking at ways to do just that. The board will develop recommendations for making the environmental protection process more efficient, more effective, more user-friendly, more open, and better coordinated.

VNRC supports the NRB’s effort to look for improvements, but we want to assure that more Vermonters have a say in the permit processes that are designed to protect and enhance the state’s environment and communities.

Now through October 27, the NRB wants to hear from Vermonters. The board needs to hear that the process should be more friendly to citizens (i.e. less complicated and less expensive).

You can weigh in one of two ways. You can speak at a public hearing in your area (click here for locations and times) or, you can file written comments to the NRB expressing your thoughts about how best to improve the system. If you want to file written comments, you can send them directly to: nrbcomments@state.vt.us

VNRC has already told the NRB what we think. Among the points we’ve made are:

• The public, including neighbors and concerned citizens, should be welcomed into state permitting processes;

• We need a new appeal process – the Environmental Court is too costly and burdensome for all parties; and

• The primary purpose of our permitting processes must remain protecting the environment and providing all Vermonters 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 this: that Vermont continues its legacy of open government that is accessible to the citizens.