A blue-green algae outbreak on Lake Champlain.
December 10, 2024 (Montpelier, VT) – Vermont’s Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) released a draft plan to stop industrial farm pollution and improve clean water permitting and enforcement. While the plan is a first step, it is lacking and will not adequately protect Vermont’s waters, including Lake Champlain, from the excess phosphorus that continues to cause the state’s waters to run with toxic algae.
“This draft plan is a start, but it won’t fix a broken system and it won’t lead to safe, clean water that Vermonters deserve,” said Scott Sanderson, Manager of Conservation Law Foundation’s Food & Farm Initiative. “Vermont’s proposal falls short when it comes to clean water permitting and enforcement. As climate change intensifies threats to water quality, state leaders must step up, take action, and ensure real progress that safeguards our environment.”
The plan comes after the EPA issued a letter earlier this year finding that Vermont does not adequately regulate farm pollution under the federal Clean Water Act. The agency directed the state to develop a plan to establish a regulatory system run exclusively by the ANR.
CLF – in partnership with Vermont Natural Resources Council and Lake Champlain Committee – documented Vermont’s failures and in 2022 asked EPA to intervene. EPA then launched an investigation.
The draft plan will now head to the EPA for review and CLF is confident the agency will require ANR to strengthen the proposal.
CLF experts are available for further comment.
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