SOUTH ROYALTON — Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Environmental Advocacy Clinic (EAC), on behalf of American Whitewater, Vermont Natural Resources Council and Vermont Council of Trout Unlimited, has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (D.
C. Circuit) urging the court to uphold the State of Vermont’s strong water quality conditions for the federal relicensing of several hydroelectric dams in Vermont’s Lamoille River Basin. These conditions are contained in a water quality certification issued by the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources in 2016, and the dams’ owner, the Village of Morrisville (Morrisville), is seeking a court ruling that would void the certification.
Also this week, EAC filed comments with federal regulators at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission objecting to Morrisville’s proposal to separate its license and avoid complying with the certification at its Green River development. “It is well past time for these hydropower dams to comply with the Clean Water Act and Vermont water quality standards, an outcome our clients have been pursuing for years,” Professor Christophe Courchesne, director of the Environmental Advocacy Clinic, said. “Vermonters cherish their beautiful and ecologically important rivers, and we are asking the court to uphold the state’s authority to protect them — authority that is crucial to our wildlife, recreationists and resilience to climate change.
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