This spring, the General Assembly passed H.595 (Act 154), which includes a mandate to the Agency of Natural Resources to “adopt rules under 10 V.S.A. § 6615d for natural resources damages against persons liable for a release of hazardous material that causes injury to, destruction of, or a loss of a natural resources,” including the “cost of restoring, rehabilitating, replacing, or acquiring the equivalent of the injured, damaged or destroyed natural resources or the services the natural resources provided.”
Per Act 154, the Agency of Natural Resources has been directed to convene a working group of “interested parties and parties with expertise in natural resource damage assessment and valuation” to consult with us in our work to prepare a draft rule on or before February 1, 2017.
We are convening the first meeting of this stakeholder group on Wednesday, July 20 from 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. in the Catamount Conference Room at ANR’s offices at 1 National Life Drive in Montpelier. The purpose of this initial meeting will be to review the statutory mandate, identify a scope of work for the committee, identify potential outside experts to assist our work and develop a schedule for Agency consultation with this group.
http://legislature.vermont.gov/assets/Documents/2016/Docs/ACTS/ACT154/ACT154%20As%20Enacted.pdf
(The relevant language of the Act, Sections 8-9, begins on page 10)