Conservation Law Foundation » Governor Shumlin

Vermont Yankee Trial Begins Next Week

Sandy Levine — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 19:04:02 +0000

Should Vermont have a say in the future of Vermont Yankee, an aging nuclear plant on the banks of the Connecticut River? A trial to answer that question begins next week. Vermont Yankee’s owner sued the State of Vermont in April. Yankee’s owners want to avoid State oversight, and filed suit as a last ditch effort to keep the plant operating.

The State has a strong case. For years, Vermont has responsibly overseen the economic, power supply and land use impacts of Vermont Yankee – matters within traditional state authority. Vermont Yankee’s owners ignore this long history and want the Court to find all actions by Vermont are an attempt to regulate radioactive safety – something within exclusive federal authority.

Conservation Law Foundation provided a “friend of the court” brief explaining the history, legal background and context of the State’s actions focusing on the owner’s untrustworthiness, poor economics of continued operation, and Vermont’s interests in advancing renewable power.

Beginning Monday, experts on power supply and regulation will explain their views. The trial will last three days. A decision is expected later this fall.

The post Vermont Yankee Trial Begins Next Week appeared first on Conservation Law Foundation.

A new direction for the Circ Highway

Sandy Levine — Fri, 20 May 2011 18:21:50 +0000

Vermont’s Governor Shumlin announced today a new direction for the Circ Highway. This is good news. CLF has long supported re-thinking the Circ Highway, and focusing instead on transportation solutions that work. As planned, the Circ is getting in the way of progress and causing too many people to be snarled in traffic and pollution. The EPA has noted the severe damage the Circ would cause to waterways and wetlands.

CLF welcomes and encourages the Governor’s efforts. We look forward to working with local communities and businesses to find effective, safe and lower cost solutions. We don’t need to bust the bank, add more sprawl and dirty our streams to get around.

Unfortunately, our state and federal highway agencies also announced the completion of the final environmental review for the outdated Circ project. We are disappointed with all the wasted money and effort spent on this outdated project. Officials should have stopped the review before it was completed. CLF will evaluate the final review and consider whether an appeal should be taken to Federal Court.

The post A new direction for the Circ Highway appeared first on Conservation Law Foundation.

Support Vermont’s effort to stop ATVs in their tracks!

Anthony Iarrapino — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 21:32:55 +0000

Since the Douglas Administration’s controversial 2009 rule allowing ATV use on state lands, CLF and a coalition of citizens and partner organizations have been fighting to restore protection of state lands from the environmental damage and public safety risks posed by expanded ATV use. In an exciting development last week (you can read about it here and here), Governor Shumlin’s new leadership team at Vermont’s Agency of Natural Resources took the first steps toward putting the brakes on the 2009 rule by starting a new process to repeal the ATV Rule. CLF needs your help to ensure that Governor Shumlin and Secretary Markowitz follow through on this important campaign-trail promise and withstand the pressure from ATV clubs.

Call the Governor and Secretary Markowitz and leave a message thanking them for starting the process to restore protections for sensitive state lands and ask them to follow through by reversing the Douglas Administration’s ATV Rule

Governor Peter Shumlin’s Office: 802-828-3333
Secretary Deb Markowitz’s Office: 802-241-3600

Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper explaining why you oppose opening state lands to ATVs and thanking Governor Shumlin and Secretary Markowitz for their proposal to protect state lands from the significant environmental impacts ATVs would create

CLF opposes ATV use on state lands because the powerful machines damage trails, severely degrade fragile ecosystems like wetlands, and can injure wildlife and fragment sensitive habitats, while also radically altering the backcountry experience with noise and air pollution. The widespread practice of “mudding”—churning up wetlands and stream banks–dumps significant quantities of sediment into water systemsand destroys the native vegetation.

CLF applauds ANR’s decision to reverse direction. If ANR leaders follow through on the more responsible course they are now charting to reverse the wrongheaded 2009 Rule state lands will for the moment once more be off limits to ATVs, even though illegal ATV use on public and private lands will still be a problem draining agency resources and requiring better enforcement. Notwithstanding the positive direction Secretary Markowitz is heading, she has not ruled out opening state lands in the future. As much as the potential reversal would be a victory for the Conservation Law Foundation and for everyone who opposed the presence of ATV’s on state forests and parks, this is not the end of the matter.

In the coming weeks, ANR will announce a public hearing and provide an opportunity to provide additional written comments. Last time around, CLF and our allies opposing the rule outnumbered ATV clubs by a 4-1 margin. Yet ATV groups have vowed to fight on and so we must raise our voices until the new ANR process is done and protections for state lands are restored. Stay tuned to this blog for more information about how you can make your voice heard.

The post Support Vermont’s effort to stop ATVs in their tracks! appeared first on Conservation Law Foundation.