A House committee recently heard the introduction of seven new bills covering five topics legislators hope to tackle.

By Sam Hartnett, for the Community News Service

As adjournment approaches, legislators in the House environmental committee are rolling out plans for next year.

The committee recently heard the introduction of seven new bills covering five topics legislators hope to make changes on next year.

H.283 aims to let municipalities determine whether to allow wake boats on lakes. Rep. Leanne Harple, D-Glover, wants to “empower towns to make the decision for themselves” and believes the bill “balances recreation with conservation.” 

Wake boats, a hot topic in Vermont communities in recent years, can damage ecosystems in small lakes by disrupting deep sediment or increasing coastline erosion. Senators also heard from conservationists and citizens regarding wake boats last Tuesday, including about how large ballast tanks can spread invasive species and how wakes can pose a safety risk for paddleboarders and kayakers.

Rep. Kate Lalley, D-Shelburne, wants to reexamine stormwater management when the Legislature picks back up next year. 

H.453 would revise the state Agency of Natural Resources’ rules regarding stormwater to encourage high-density development. Lalley believes that by moving away from required on-site stormwater treatment, high-density development can occur in one area and stormwater management for that area in another.

Lalley believes the bill would benefit her constituents by allowing for higher-density development along the Route 7 corridor south of Burlington.

“I’m trying to get away from car-dependent, suburban results that might unintentionally emerge because we’re putting on-site management of stormwater on par with building,” Lalley said while introducing her bill last Tuesday.

Rep. Teddy Waszazak, D-Barre City, introduced two bills that attempt to improve flood response in communities across the state. 

“Because of our lack of county government, the town-by-town approach to flood mitigation doesn’t really work,” Waszazak explained to the House Committee on Environment last week. 

“What we do in Barre City, in terms of flood mitigation, will have an effect on those who are down river from us,” he added.

Waszazak’s bills look to regionalize flood mitigation projects to assist rural communities that lack the municipal bandwidth for flood response that places like Barre City have. The Agency of Natural Resources would be involved in implementing flood-resilience projects on a watershed-based approach, rather than a town-by-town patchwork.

Rep. James Masland, D-Thetford, wants to build a coalition to tackle contamination from PFAS, often known as “forever chemicals.” His bills, H.292 and H.286, set up testing for PFAS in biosolids and drinking water, respectively. In his district, PFAS contamination impeded the development of a solar array on a former landfill. 

“With these bills as a vehicle, I hope we can figure this out,” Masland said.

Rep. Kristi Morris, D-Springfield, took a colorful approach to introducing his bill, H.425, to committee: “Everyone knows, when you sit, and you flush, it’s magic,” he said. 

The bill would require the Agency of Natural Resources to create a long-term regional management plan for septic waste.

“There’s wastewater treatment facilities in many, many of our communities, and they are very costly to build new. They’re very costly to maintain; they’re very costly to rebuild when time comes, and that’s where my community is,” Morris said to the committee.

The representative said he visited a wastewater treatment facility in Bellows Falls, where sludge is dried into pellets. Local officials there said that would make the waste easier and more environmentally friendly to dispose of.

Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship