December Meetings on VT Lake Clean-up Efforts

The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, the Vermont Agency of Agriculture and Food Markets, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have scheduled a series of public meetings to discuss the Lake Champlain restoration plan (the Lake Champlain TMDL). The plan establishes limits on pollution that can come from different sources within the Lake Champlain Basin. The meetings are part of EPA’s on-going efforts to develop a new plan for Lake Champlain after they disapproved the previous one, mostly for its lack of reasonable assurance that efforts to control pollution would be successful. More information is available here. The schedule of meetings is in the table below.

The state acknowledges that, “we have not done enough” to control pollution to Lake Champlain. To address deficiencies Vermont has offered a new Draft State of Vermont Proposal for Restoring Lake Champlain”. The proposal will be a principal subject of the meetings. The proposal outlines the state’s strategies for addressing agricultural runoff, stormwater management, river stability, forestry, and plans for funding implementation efforts. Please plan to attend a meeting and speak out in favor of strong actions to protect lake health.

Lake Champlain Basin Phosphorus Clean Water Act TMDL Public Meetings, December, 2013