Douglas meets resistance on permit reform

By DAVE GRAM, The Associated Press • January 10, 2009

MONTPELIER — Gov. Jim Douglas wants to make another try at streamlining Vermont's Act 250 land-use review and other environmental permit processes, but is already running into opposition from environmental groups and Democrats in the Legislature.

In his inaugural address on Thursday, the Republican governor called Vermont's environmental laws an impediment to the economic growth Vermont needs to lift itself out of the current recession and create new jobs.

"As I travel Vermont and talk with employers, too often I hear the same stories about the time, expense and uncertainty of obtaining necessary permits and approvals to begin a project to grow their companies," the governor said.

But every part of Douglas' critique of the permit system drew a sharp response from an alliance of environmentalists and lawmakers determined to protect Act 250, Vermont's 1972 land-use law from what they see as the governor's attempts to weaken it.

"The governor is relying on anecdotes from a narrow group of development interests to set state policy, rather than reaching out to a broad group of people involved in the permitting and natural resource protection fields," said Brian Shupe of the Vermont Natural Resources Council.

VNRC compiled figures from the state Natural Resources Board showing that in 2007, 4 of 428 Act 250 permits sought by developers were denied — less than 1 percent; 81 percent were processed within four months; fewer than 2 percent of permits issued by District Environmental Commissions were appealed to the state Environmental Court.

Reforming the permit system was a centerpiece of Douglas' first term in office in 2003 and 2004. Appeals of local zoning permits and the Act 250 permits issued by the regional commissions were consolidated into a newly expanded Environmental Court.

The governor failed to win legislative approval for other provisions, and has reintroduced some of them. One involves the type of review the permits get on appeal. Douglas wants on "on-the-record" review in which the Environmental Court would review the district commissions' decisions much the way the Vermont Supreme Court reviews a case brought up from a lower court.

Environmentalists want to preserve the current system of "de novo" reviews, in which the Environmental Court takes a new round of evidence before reaching its decision.

Douglas also wants to have Act 250 decisions give more weight to the "positive economic, social or cultural benefits that may flow from a project into a community or region."

Shupe said he was worried that such an approach would end up with the state weighing "10 new jobs versus X acres of wetlands... I hope we don't get into a process of needing to put a dollar value on every state resource."

Rep. Tony Klein, D-East Montpelier and chairman of the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee, said in an interview that Douglas needed to take more into account the positive economic impacts of Act 250 itself. He called Vermont's environmental protection efforts "why people travel the world to come here," and "the foundation of a sound economy."

Douglas also called for more use of "general permits," which would cover a class of projects, with each developer "self-certifying" that they met the requirements for a permit. The state would follow up with compliance enforcement to make the requirements stick, he said.

Critics charged that the state's environmental enforcement has been lax for years and was unlikely to improve given reductions in the state work force.

But Laura Pelosi, commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation, said in an interview that her department had been trying to retool itself to have staff spend more time in enforcement than in processing permit paperwork. She summed up the shift as "less behind the desk and more out in the field."

Both Klein and Rep. Rachel Weston, D-Burlington and a member of his committee, called Douglas' proposals vague and unformed.

"It seems like this is just an idea and not a piece of legislation the governor is trying to introduce," Weston said.

Pelosi said some of the changes Douglas wants can be made in her department internally and without legislation. As for changes that would require legislation, she could not say when a bill would be filed.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20090110/NEWS03/90110004/1001/NEWS