Rutland Herald
VCE loses its appeal
February 18, 2002
By BRUCE EDWARDS Herald Staff
The acting chairman of the Water Resources Board has dismissed an appeal of a water discharge permit issued to OMYA Inc.
In a preliminary ruling issued Friday, Acting Water Resources Board Chairman Lawrence Bruce Jr. ruled that Vermonters for a Clean Environment failed to meet the threshold necessary under state law to appeal.
VCE has until Feb. 22 to seek a review of the ruling by the full board.
The group filed an appeal last year of OMYA’s water discharge permit, citing the omission of a key condition that would have required the company to notify the state prior to using new biocides or chemicals in the treatment of its calcium carbonate product.
OMYA countered by seeking to have VCE’s appeal dismissed on the grounds that the Danby-based environmental group failed to show that the group, or its members, have an interest in the discharge from the Florence plant into Otter Creek and Smith Pond.
VCE Executive Director Annette Smith has pointed out in the past that VCE was not a membership organization, but rather a group comprised of supporters.
In its filing with the board supporting its right to appeal, VCE said that its corporate mission was to encourage economic growth with minimal environmental impact. The nonprofit group also said that it represented the interests of three supporters who live in the vicinity of the plant.
However, because VCE is not a membership organization, the board ruled that VCE lacked standing to appeal.
“Since VCE is not a membership organization, it cannot bring suit on behalf of others, even if the claims of injury alleged by those individuals are meritorious. That is because there is not the requisite (close relationship) between the organization and the persons it purports to represent,” Bruce said in his 23-page ruling.
Bruce noted that VCE could still have standing to appeal in its own right, if it could prove “a substantial interest which may be affected by the outcome of the proceeding … and where the interest may not be adequately represented by existing parties.”
But again, Bruce ruled that VCE failed to make its case that it had any such interest or would be injured by the issuance of the permit.
“There is nothing in VCE’s filings … to suggest how VCE’s own interest in the protection of natural resources, especially water resources, is any different from the interest of the public generally,” he said.
However, Bruce also noted that “… given OMYA’s past problems with biocide and process chemical releases at its Florence facility, additional or different permit conditions might be warranted to protect the water quality of Smith Pond and Otter Creek.”
Smith did not return a phone call Monday seeking comment.
Founded by Smith three years ago to fight a proposed natural gas pipeline in southern Vermont, VCE has since turned its attention on stopping OMYA from building a quarry in Danby.
Contact Bruce Edwards at bruce.edwards@rutlandherald.com.