by Mike Bielawski
A bill passed by the Senate and before a House committee this week would require the State of Vermont to add two acres of wetlands under state management to every one disturbed by development.
S.213 will be discussed Thursday by the House Committee on Environment and Energy. It’s sponsored by Sen. Chris Bray, D-Addison, and others.
The bill would “establish as State policy that wetlands shall be regulated and managed to produce a net gain of wetlands acreage. The Secretary of Natural Resources would be required to amend wetlands rules to incorporate the net gain policy.”
It’s going to cost at least a million dollars next year, if it passes. The bill states, “In addition to other funds appropriated to the Agency of Natural Resources in fiscal year 2025, the amount of $1,000,000 shall be appropriated from the General Fund, of which $500,000 shall be used to fund wetlands mapping required under this act, and $500,000 shall be used to hire additional Agency of Natural Resources staff as necessary to comply with the requirements of Secs.1–4 of this act.”
The bill states that wetlands must always be gained at a 2:1 ratio – meaning for every one acre disturbed by development two more must be restored.
It states, “At a minimum, the Wetlands Rules shall be revised to (1) Require an applicant for a wetlands permit to restore and enhance any loss of wetlands caused by the project that is subject to the permit application. (2) Incorporate the net gain rule into existing general permits and into requirements for permits issued after July 1, 2025. (3) Establish a set of parameters and ratios for the permittee-designed restored wetlands, at not less than a 2:1 ratio.”
The United Nations also pushes hard for the protection of wetlands. Their website states, “The current trends in human settlement potentially pose major threats for wetland conservation and wise use. As cities grow, development increases, driving the demand for land and the tendency to encroach on wetlands. In many instances, wetlands have been viewed as wastelands and are thus converted for other purposes, including their use as dumping grounds.”
Land use policy continues to be controversial as the state pursues conserving up to 30% of all land from development by 2030 and 50% by 2050.
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Categories: Environment, Legislation
s213 the key board thumpers must be still asleep//// the commies are fast at work extorting more land from the private sector//// oh, it is the united nations wish/// these crooks belong in a insane asylum////
As I always say to people, “All roads lead to the United Nations.” This is a land grab, nothing more. The only good news is that 30 percent of Vermont ‘s land is already in conservation, so the state is working on obtaing another 20 percent to meet the 50 percent goal by 2050. The Vermont Land Trust will be responsible for entering into agreements with property owners to “conserve” this landbin the name of biodiversity. This claim is suspect in and of itself as the biodiversity of earth has been evolving since creation. For example, once dinosaurs roamed the earth, and are now extinct. Manmade climate change had nothing to do with this outcome.
Actually, actions such as this fit the definition of fascism. mr. bray’s alleged “service” to the State of Vermont has included a great number of fascist bills introduced and supported. Ownership of, and property tax payment on these lands appears to remain private, for now- which may be an attempt to skirt Chapter 1 Article 2 of The Vermont Constitution.
It is indeed a direct assault on property rights, holding property owners hostage to these UN guided, fascist directives.
The dickens you say ? You mean sport hunters and trappers did not kill off the dinosaurs ? LOL 🙂
“for every one acre disturbed by development two more must be restored.” What constitutes “disturbed?” Can the changing of a culvert 1/2 mile upstream of a wetland be said to have “disturbed” the wetland ? How about the spreading of manure upstream from a wetland ? Remember, it is said that “we all live downstream” from something .
Create the problem.
Then deploy the already plotted solution.
Hegelian, neh?
Development is the problem. DUH.
But don’t tell the fascists that.
…because you haven’t convinced folks to manage their own land “responsibly” sooooo we’ll make them do it our way with our mob rule version of majority rule democracy.
It also depends on the definition of “responsible”. The homeowner will now need to follow the international standards defined by the United Nations to be responsible. Democracy today means the partnerships, work and cooperation between UN member nations and states ,NGOs, and corpoations to implement the UN policies. These entities constitute mob rule exercised through coercion and under the guise of public consensus.