Composting clash causes political heat
Toolbox
By Louis Porter Vermont Press Bureau - Published: September 28, 2007
MONTPELIER – Perhaps only in Vermont could compost heat up the political landscape.
When Burlington's Intervale Center was notified by the state this week that it had violated environmental rules and would have to do better if it is to stay open, the center promised to fix the problem.
The issue might have passed with little notice, but for one thing: House Speaker Gaye Symington, a Democrat, works for the center. Rep. David Zuckerman, a Progressive, farms a 16-acre plot there. And other political heavyweights on the left have been involved in greater or lesser ways in the development and operation of the center, established as an environmental and land protection showpiece.
Enter the GOP, stage right.
The environmental problems at the Intervale show that Symington, Zuckerman and other politicians on the left are not up to the task of protecting the environment, said Republican Chairman Rob Roper.
"They are constantly using the environment as a political weapon," said Roper, who called the Intervale a "veritable who's who of left wing politics" in Vermont.
"They want to be the environmental stewards for the state of Vermont. The whole state," Roper added. "They are not even capable of governing this little plot of land in Burlington in which they are intimately involved."
Symington, who raised money for the organization, said the Intervale will fix any problems on the site of the composting facility.
"The Intervale is an organization that is founded on values of environmental protection and land preservation," she said. "We all at the Intervale take seriously our responsibilities in that regard. The organization is committed to rectifying any violations that have occurred."
According to the state, the Intervale Center, located on the 354-acre river bottomland known as the Intervale, stored liquid leaching from its com-post material in unlined "lagoons" and pumped it over its property, in violation of the rules governing its operation. Some of that runoff contained E. coli, a potentially dangerous bacterium.
The Intervale Center will also have to obtain an Act 250 permit for its composting operations because of the risk it might disrupt American Indian artifacts. The Winooski river was long known as an native American pathway.
"We have been extremely careful about disturbing the surface of the land here, other than cultivation," said Kit Perkins, executive director of the Intervale. "We are doing absolutely everything we can as quickly as we can to correct any deficiencies we can at the compost facility."
Roper said if those involved in the Intervale – including Zuckerman and Symington – did not know the center was in violation, they should have.
But Symington and Zuckerman were critical of Roper's decision to make the Intervale's environmental problem a political issue.
"Many of us in the Legislature have jobs outside our Statehouse roles. This is mine," she said. "I understand it is part of Mr. Roper's job to wake up each day and figure out how he can embarrass people who happen to Democrats."
But over two decades the Intervale has taken 354 acres of largely abandoned land, made it productive and ensured it will remain farm land, Symington said.
"It was full of dumped cars and tires. Now there are productive farms and at-risk teens growing food that is served in the school cafeterias," she said. "I am proud to be part of that work."
Roper said he really likes the Intervale too. His family goes there to visit and buy vegetables, he said.
But "its mismanagement now really threatens to spoil it," he said. There are also questions about how some of the land that is now part of the Intervale was acquired from Burlington Electric Department, Roper said. A variety of current or former Democratic political leaders played different roles in that below-market transaction, he said.
Symington said that was a good thing, because the result was that the land will be used for farming, not developed or left vacant.
"The best thing about that acquisition was it allowed the land to be permanently placed in agriculture," she said. "It is protected for use as agricultural land for generations to come."
Neither he nor Symington work for the composting portion of the Intervale, said Zuckerman, who farms a plot on the site.
"I think it is very unfortunate that the chairman of the party, who I assume is in regular contact with the governor, is using an attack on agricultural operations to make a political hit. Most people in Vermont support agriculture," said Zuckerman, who is also chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. "No one is perfect. Not all dairy farms are perfect, not all composting operations are perfect."
"It's fair to ask the question whether the high-ranking, extremely influential officials who are involved in that organization have influenced their operation in any way," said Jason Gibbs, a Douglas spokesman. "It is not the job of the regulators to ask those questions, but those are certainly the kind of questions that other lawmakers or members of the media could be asking because they are very valid."
Gov. James Douglas was not available to comment on the matter.
By coincidence, the governor's in-laws also operate a composting facility on their Middlebury dairy farm, on which Intervale staff members have offered help and advice, Symington said.
"Several staff members at the Intervale Center have worked closely with the Foster brothers over time," she said. "There has been some learning at both ends."
The Foster farm does not have any pending or past violations, according to state environmental officials.
Gibbs said the Democratic connections to the Intervale have not caused the center to be treated any differently than it would have been otherwise.
"Absolutely not. There is a regulatory process that governs these issues. It is being handled by the professionals who handle every other case like this," he said. "They are going to be treated exactly as any other organization that violates Vermont's environmental regulations."
"The Intervale is supposed to have been operating under very clear regulations and they have chosen to ignore those regulations," Gibbs said.
Roper put it even more succinctly in a statement he issued about the incident.
"Symington's company boasts green thumb (but gives environment the finger)," he wrote.
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