All State Policies: Vermont
Who’s Responsible?
Below are short descriptions of relevant state agencies/departments by policy topic, followed by more information on specific policies.
Drinking Water: Vermont’s drinking water is managed by the Agency of Natural Resources’ Department of Environmental Conservation’s Drinking Water and Groundwater Protection Division (DWGWG). The Division is involved in outreach, education, assistance, and regulatory activities, including the administration of the Safe Drinking Water Act. According to the Department of Health and the Environment, 30% of Vermont households access drinking water from private wells, which are not regulated by the EPA or State of Vermont.
Policies
Drinking Water
House Bill 955 (Act 139)
July 6, 2020
This Act appropriated $500,000.00 in FY 2021 to the Agency of Natural Resources for engineering and construction grants to improve public water systems with confirmed concentrations of PFAS exceeding 20 nanograms per liter and on a do-not-drink notice.
It also authorized the use of up to $50,000 for “engineering and construction grants related to improvements for public water systems for grants
to reimburse schools that operate public water systems with confirmed concentrations of PFAS exceeding 20 nanograms per liter and on a do-not-drink notice for their costs for providing bottled or bulk water. Requires any monies received from a responsible party in connection with a grant made from the appropriation to be used for future capital construction acts. Creates a new special fund to be administered by the Secretary of Natural Resources to provide grants to public water systems responding to or remediating emerging contaminants in a public water supply.”
SB 49 (Act 21, An act relating to the regulation of polyfluoroalkyl substances in drinking and surface waters)
5/15/2019
A summary of the Act is available here. The Act requires all public community water systems and all nontransient noncommunity water systems (water systems) to conduct monitoring for the maximum number of PFAS detectable. If monitoring confirms regulated PFAS contaminants in excess of 20 ppt, the water system needs to implement treatment to reduce PFAS contaminants to below 20 ppt in the drinking water. On or before February 1, 2020, the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) had to adopt a maximum contaminant level (MCL) for five listed PFAS. ANR will issue a plan for the statewide investigation of potential sources of contamination from PFAS substances and the contamination of PFAS from landfill leachate.
In March of 2020 the Vermont Water Supply Rule was revised to incorporate the PFAS Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) of 20 parts per trillion.
Environmental Justice
Healthy Rivers
River Corridor & Floodplain Protection Program
MM/DD/YYYY
The River Corridor & Floodplain Protection section works with landowners, municipalities, regional planning commissions, NGOs, and agencies of state and federal government to reduce flood risk by protecting and restoring natural and beneficial river and floodplain functions.
Vermont Flood Hazard Area and River Corridor Rule
3/1/2015
The Flood Hazard Area and River Corridor Rule regulates development exempt from municipal regulation within designated Flood Hazard Areas and River Corridors. Development exempt from municipal regulation includes state-owned and operated institutions and facilities; accepted agricultural and silvicultural practices; and, power generation, transmission, and telecommunication facilities requiring a Certificate of Public Good from the Public Service Board (30 V.S.A. §§ 248 and 248a; statutes available online at http://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/). Permits are intended to ensure compliance with National Flood Insurance Program criteria and that development exempt from municipal regulation within in Flood Hazard Areas and River Corridors is safe and accomplished in a manner that is consistent with the public health, safety, and welfare, and does not impair stream equilibrium, floodplain services, or the river corridor.
Flood Safety Act (Act 121)
3/30/2024
Act 121 authorizes statewide river corridor regulation and the municipal adoption of higher state floodplain standards. The Act gives the Department of Environmental Conservation Rivers Program the regulatory authority over all development in river corridors. The Rivers Program will formalize the mapped infill areas so communities know where it’s safe to develop. Vermont Governor Philip B. Scott on March 30, 2024 allowed Senate Bill No. 213 to become law as Act 121 without his signature.
Per Mike Kline, “This new law also requires municipalities to adopt the standards for floodplain management that the state has developed, likely the ‘no adverse impact’ standard, in the next few years. That takes it to the stratosphere for Vermont in terms of protecting both river corridors and floodplains. Municipalities are required to send all development proposals or draft permits to the Rivers Program to ensure what they’re permitting meets the adopted standards.”
Act 250
Spring of 1970
Act 250 is Vermont’s land use and development law. The law provides a public, quasi-judicial process for reviewing and managing the environmental, social and fiscal consequences of major subdivisions and developments in Vermont. It assures that larger developments complement Vermont’s unique landscape, economy and community needs. One of the strengths of Act 250 is the access it provides to neighbors and other interested parties to participate in the development review process. Applicants often work with neighbors, municipalities, state agencies and other interested groups to address concerns raised by a proposed development, resolving issues and mitigating impacts before a permit application is filed.
Projects that require an Act 250 permit and are located within a flood hazard area or river corridor must meet requirements under Criterion 1D –Flood Hazard Areas, River Corridors. The Flood Hazard Area & River Corridor Protection Procedure describes how DEC makes map determinations and recommendations to the Natural Resources Board District Commissions for Act 250 proceedings.
The Natural Resources Board (NRB) is an independent entity in the Executive Branch of Vermont State government. The primary function of the Board is to administer Act 250 to regulate certain types of development and subdivision in Vermont.
An act relating to Vermont standards for issuing a Clean Water Act section 401 certification, VT HB 108 (2021); 10 V.S.A. § 1253
5/18/2021
This Act directs the Secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources to administer a ” Clean Water Act Section 401 certification program to review activities that require a federal license or permit to ensure that a proposed activity complies with the Vermont Water
Quality Standards, as well as with any other appropriate requirement of State law, including:
(A) 10 V.S.A. chapter 37 (wetlands protection and water resources management);
(B) 10 V.S.A. chapter 41 (regulation of stream flow);
(C) 10 V.S.A. § 1264 (stormwater management);
(D) 29 V.S.A. chapter 11 (management of lakes and ponds); and
(E) the Agency of Natural Resources Rules for Water Withdrawals for Snowmaking.”
Additionally, the Secretary shall not grant an application for certification under Section 401 of the CWA “unless the applicant demonstrates all of the following:
(A) there is no practicable alternative to the proposed activity that would have a less adverse impact on waters and wetlands of the State and provided that any proposed alternative shall not have other significant adverse human health, safety, or environmental consequences; (B) the proposed activity will not result in the violation of any applicable water quality criteria established in the Vermont Water Quality Standards; and (C) the proposed activity will not result in a violation of the State’s antidegradation policy.”
The Act also directs the Secretary to amend the Vermont Water Quality Standards to include: “(1) An amendment to the Classification of State Waters to clarify that with regard to all Class I and II wetlands, as defined in 10 V.S.A. § 902, the uses to be protected include the functions and values of the wetland as described in Section 5 of the Vermont Wetland Rules.
(2) An amendment to the antidegradation policy to clarify that wetlands and their functions and values shall be protected as described by the Vermont Wetland Rules” along with any additional provisions the Secretary deems necessary related to 10 V.S.A.
§ 1253(h).
