A bipartisan bill passed this week by Congress will help the State of Vermont maintain the Waterbury, East Barre, and Wrightsville flood control dams in central Vermont. 

According to a statement by Sen. Bernie Sanders, the bill also will provide flood control and waste infrastructure assistance for at-risk Vermont communities, including Vernon, home of the retired nuclear power plant and its spent fuel storage site.

The recently passed Water Resources and Development Act of 2024 will help Vermont maintain these three flood control structures and sets the table for new projects that will help Vermont weather future flooding events. Some key provisions of the legislation include:

• Authorizing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to study long-term flood control measures in the Winooski River Basin and designate the basin as an Army Corps priority project area.  
• Helping Vermont access more federal funding to repair and maintain the Waterbury, Wrightsville, and East Barre Dam flood control structures.  
• Allowing the Army Corps to provide more federal funding to economically disadvantaged communities in the Lake Champlain Watershed for water infrastructure projects.  

The bill also reauthorizes the Economic Development Administration and the Northern Border Regional Commission (NBRC), a federal-state partnership that supports economic development in Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, and Maine. Sen. Bernie Sanders helped secure a number of provisions here, including recovery assistance for nuclear power plant host communities like Vernon, increased authorized funding for the NBRC, and improved flexibility on matching fund requirements for communities.   

First passed in 1938, the Water Resources and Development Act authorizes the Army Corps of Engineers to help manage and strengthen the nation’s water resources. This includes working with communities across the country on projects to reduce flood and storm damage and restore aquatic ecosystems. In Vermont, the Army Corps designed the Waterbury, East Barre, and Wrightsville dams in the 1930s after the devastating 1927 flood caused massive destruction and loss of life.