Vermont Compost

Environmental politics

Reformer.com

Tuesday, July 22
It's not yet up there with motherhood, apple pie and the flag, but it's hard to find people who will say a discouraging word about compost.
Turning table scraps into fertilizer for gardens is a great idea. It reduces waste and saves money.
Everyone seems to like compost, except for the Douglas administration.
The state Natural Resource Board recently shut down one of Vermont's biggest commercial composting operations, leaving a lot of people in the lurch.
The Vermont Compost Co. in Montpelier was recently fined $18,000 for not having an Act 250 permit. The NRB contends that the owner, Karl Hammer, is bringing in too much waste from off site and processing it on his farm. Hammer contends that much of his composting is connected to his farm and that farms are exempt from Act 250.
The action against Vermont Compost comes on the heels of the Agency of Natural Resources' attempts to shut down the commercial composting operation at Burlington's Intervale Center. The Intervale composting and gardening operations reportedly face substantial fines and up to $375,000 of fixes to make the site pass regulatory muster.
In case you're wondering, the third largest composting operation in the state of Vermont is Vermont Natural Ag Products in Middlebury, the folks who make "Moo Doo." It is run by Bob Foster, the brother-in-law of Gov. James Douglas, and it currently is not facing any regulatory problems.
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So why are the other two under fire?
Current Democratic candidate for governor Gaye Symington was the Intervale Center's development director and House Agriculture Committee Chairman David Zuckerman, P-Burlington, farmed there. One can't help but think there was some political trickery going on when ANR went after the Intervale last fall for allegedly polluting the Winooski River with its composting operation.
ANR's current concern about the Intervale is quite ironic, considering it once was one of the most polluted sites in Burlington. Before it was cleaned up and turned into community gardens, the Intervale was a dumping ground with an unlined city landfill and pits for sewage sludge. And the public works director in Burlington when all of this dumping was going on in the 1980s? None other than current ANR Secretary George Crombie.
As for Hammer and Vermont Compost Co., the problems started when neighbors started to complain about health hazards. One of the neighbors who complained was Darcie Johnson, who happens to be the Vermont Republican Party's top fundraiser.
As things stand now, the state claims the Intervale is an area of archeological significance and jurisdiction over how the land should be used should be determined by the state Division of Historical Preservation. This seems a bit surprising, considering that no one cared about archeology when they were using the Intervale as a dump.
As for Vermont Compost Co., the concerns of one well-connected abutter appear to have trumped the dozens of businesses who have kept hundreds of tons of food waste out of landfills.
The economic value of the Intervale Center -- 114 full and part-time jobs, 200 community garden plots, 12 small farms and 1 million pounds of food produced annually -- is undeniable. And Vermont Compost is a key link in the state's efforts to turn organic waste into a useful product.
To go after these two entities makes absolutely no sense as environmental policy. If there are problems, ANR should work with the Intervale Center and Vermont Compost to correct them. It certainly wouldn't be the first time that ANR chose compromise over enforcement.
For example, take OMYA, the Proctor-based company that processes marble into calcium carbonate. In Florence, neighbors claim that OMYA dumps 150,000 tons of waste each year into an unlined landfill and that dangerous chemicals are leaching into their wells.
For years, Florence residents have urged state officials to do something about it. Reportedly, OMYA and ANR are negotiating to avoid enforcement penalties. So why is OMYA getting off easy compared to the Intervale Center or Vermont Compost? Is it the nearly $5,000 that OMYA has contributed to Douglas' campaigns? Is it the 250 jobs that OMYA provides? Or is the heavy handed regulatory approach on compost facilities not run by members of the Douglas family politically motivated?
In any case, considering the meager fines levied by ANR for solid waste dumping -- eight fines totaling $27,500 in 2007 and 12 fines totaling $12,260 in 2006 -- it seems that not all polluters are treated equal by the Douglas administration. It also seems that political concerns trump environmental concerns. But given this administration's record over the past six years, that's not a shock.