A lawmaker from Manchester has introduced a bill that would change how permission to use chemicals in Vermont lakes is granted.
H.589, “an act relating to aquatic nuisance control” was introduced on Wednesday, the opening day of the 2024 Legislative session, by Rep. Seth Bongartz, D-Manchester. It was referred to the House Committee on Environment and Energy, where Bongartz sits as a ranking member.
Bongartz said late last year that he might introduce this bill. This was after the Aquatic Nuisance Control Study Committee released a report on the use of herbicides in Vermont’s lakes to control nuisance species. That report was required by H.31, a bill passed in the last session that Bongartz had proposed. It initially sought to place a moratorium on the use of herbicides in the state’s lakes but that piece didn’t make the final cut.
H.31 was introduced in response to the controversy around Lake Bomoseen and the Lake Bomoseen Association’s application to the Department of Environmental Conservation for a permit to use ProcellaCOR to control the levels of milfoil on the lake. That permit was denied, though interest in the issue persists.
The bill, as introduced, carves out some exceptions for private ponds, which it defines as, “... a body of standing water that is a natural water body of not more than 20 acres located on property owned by a person or an artificial water body of any size located on property owned by one person.”
Private ponds would include ponds made for snowmaking, golf courses, stormwater, and fire suppression.
As for who can apply for a permit: if the water body is a lake, then the applicant must be a lake association as defined by statute, and that is registered with the commissioner of the DEC. If there is no lake association, then the application must have the signatures of at least 30 Vermont residents. Applications must also include a letter of support from the municipal government for the town in which the lake sits.
Per the bill, to grant a permit the DEC commissioner must find all of the following applies: that the use of pesticides is needed to “address significant ecological harm in the water,” that “the use of non-chemical methods to address the significant ecological harm in the lake is not feasible,” that the risks don’t outweigh the benefits, and that the application have a long-range management plan with the goal of minimizing the use of the chemical in mind.
Bongartz said in December that he intended this bill to essentially have the state go from saying “yes, as long as,” to “no, unless,” when it comes to herbicide and pesticide applications in the state’s waterways.
Private ponds don’t need a long-range management plan.
The bill would require applications to be jointly approved by the commissioner of environmental conservation, the commissioner of fish and wildlife, and the commissioner of health.
If passed as proposed, H.589 would take effect retroactively to Jan. 1, 2024, with some exceptions for approved permits and completed applications.
