VCE Weekly Update

The Public Process

by Annette Smith (Executive Director of Vermonters for a Clean Environment, Inc.)

Vermonters are blessed with a strong tradition of public process and local control. Vermont is a small state with the perception that our elected officials are accessible and will listen to us. We have Act 248 to deal with power plant proposals and Act 250 for projects with land use impacts.

When developers propose grand schemes for Vermont without respecting our processes, when wealthy developers operate behind closed doors to influence our local officials, when our state officials are not responsive, then we have our right to free speech.

Last year, power plant and pipeline promoters asked Select Boards for letters of support prior to filing their Act 248 application. I didn't think their request was appropriate because hardly anyone knew about their billion-dollar gas project. So I asked Select Boards to hear my arguments in opposition if they were going to consider supporting it. Eventually I addressed ten Select Boards. Eight of them, or the townspeople, voted to oppose the gas project. Vermonters for a Clean Environment (VCE) was formed in the absence of public process. The developers never filed an Act 248 application.

A year later, Governor Dean decided to listen to the people and he withdrew his support for the project. However, the developers still have not called it off. As recently as August 1, Tom Macaulay, power plant developer, said in public that he is continuing work on the project and has the endorsement of the administration. However on the same day, Governor Dean said "the state will not pursue this, they will not promote it and we will not support it...This pipeline is not going to go along the route that these people are proposing because everybody that I know of seems to be opposed to it and I'm not going to support something that everybody is opposed to." Vermonters continue to be impacted by the proposed pipeline route and VCE has asked Governor Dean, DPS Commissioner Sedano and ANR Secretary Johnstone to contact the companies and bring this nightmare to an end. We await their responses.

Incredibly, another large industrial project with massive impacts has been proposed by developers who do not respect our public processes. OMYA, the private Swiss mining company with a factory in Pittsford, Vermont and mines in Middlebury, Pittsford and South Wallingford, announced in January that they intend to open a calcium carbonate mine in the Danby Four Corners valley. Their plan impacts some of the same towns that are still impacted by the pipeline route, and the proposed pipeline route is adjacent to the proposed mining operation. Half a dozen towns could become truck routes, and hundreds of property owners are now concerned about their property values.

We have a process to allow the public to participate in expert testimony on issues that will decide whether this proposal will be approved. But seven months have elapsed since OMYA sent their 8-page plan to the Danby Select Board and OMYA has not yet filed their Act 250 application and has given no indication when they will file or if they will file at all.

Instead of doing their homework and preparing to meet the 10 criteria of Act 250, OMYA has been spending their money on a public relations firm that has been meeting with Select Board and Planning Commission members and dropping in on residents in the towns affected. Without any facts or documentation, the public relations effort has been to try to persuade people that the impacts will be minimal. Even a superficial review of the proposal indicates this is an enormous project with massive impacts.

Last month OMYA met with the Rutland Economic Development Corporation, and this week REDC issued an invitation to Select Board members to attend a meeting "to join us with your thoughts regarding this project." David O'Brien, executive director of REDC, has already spoken publicly in favor of the proposal. It would seem more appropriate for REDC to go to our towns' Select Boards to hear their concerns in our public forums rather than call them to a meeting of questionable legality.

OMYA has participated in public meetings in Tinmouth and Wallingford, but not Danby. Since April, Danby citizens have been asking their Select Board and OMYA to hold an informational meeting in Danby. Instead, the Danby Select Board warned a meeting for the end of September, warned as follows: "Do the residents of the Town of Danby oppose the creation of a quarry off Otis Road in the Town of Danby?" How do the citizens of Danby know whether or not they oppose this until they have an informational meeting in their town? There is an old Vermont adage that goes: "When in doubt, vote no." A "no" vote will mean support of the OMYA plan. This makes us wonder if the Danby Select Board is trying to confuse us.

The actions of the Danby Select Board demonstrate that they are not being sensitive to the public or to the process. Their meetings are unique in their format. While every other town holds their meetings with the Select Board facing the public and chairs for the public in which to sit, the Danby Select Board huddles around a table. A counter separates them from the public, and there are at most four chairs. They include a reporter in their huddle. The public cannot hear what they are saying.

In light of the fact that many citizens of Danby feel that the public process has been lacking and after careful consideration, Vermonters for a Clean Environment has decided to expand our agenda to address OMYA's proposal. We will hold a public informational meeting for the people of Danby to provide facts and information about OMYA's proposal and the Act 250 process. It will be held Thursday, August 31, at 7 PM at the Danby Town Hall in Danby Four Corners. VCE believes that an informed electorate will make the best decisions for their town. The Select Board and OMYA are invited to attend.