It’s been a busy month for VNRC’s water program, responding to a suite of initiatives proposed by the Agency of Natural Resources that address the protection of Vermont’s waters. VNRC, working with partners, addressed the following priority issues: 1) We support the proposed changes to Vermont Water Quality Standards (VWQS) that could result in the designation of more high quality waters in Vermont.  However, we raised concerns that some of the proposed amendments could weaken Vermont’s long time policy against allowing high quality waters to be diminished – know as the anti-degradation policy.   VNRC’s position is that any changes to VWQS must strengthen protections for Vermont’s waters.  2) We commented on the proposed plan to implement the newly revised Lake Champlain cleanup plan – known as the TMDL.  In our comments, we recognized the progress the State has made over the previous TMDL implementation plan.  However, we identified areas where the plan is still not strong enough to meet the serious challenge of cleaning up the lake. We submitted comments with specific recommendations for improving the plan; and 3) We strongly support ANR establishing a safe drinking water standard for PFOA.  However, we submitted comments that recommend a more stringent standard than ANR recommends based on recent scientific studies that have come to light.

You can see VNRC’s full comments on these issues at the links below:

1) VNRC, VCV and LCI Comments on VWQS

2) VNRC and VCV Comments on Lake Champlain TMDL Phase I Implementation Plan.

3) VNRC Comments on PFOA Standards (coming soon).