Public Service Board: VELCO Can Use Herbicides at Substation
Commentary by Sylvia Knight,
August 12, 2010, page 2.....

In May 2009 a small group of Charlotte residents, with the support of the Selectboard, got the Public Service Board (PSB) to review VELCO’s intentions to manage weeds at substations with herbicides. This use was not discussed until we brought it to the PSB’s attention.

In September 2009 VELCO submitted materials to the PSB claiming that the only way it can manage weeds and protect workers at substations is with herbicides.
Recently (July 13) the PSB decided to allow VELCO to use herbicides at Charlotte, Shelburne and Blissville substations, with these provisions:
1. Herbicide applications shall be regulated with permits issued by the Agency of Agriculture.
2. In place of sanctions for violating its permit conditions, VELCO has to commission an independent study of the potential for herbicide migration outside the Charlotte substation. The study must be completed by December 31, 2010, and approved by the PSB.
3. VELCO has to conduct annual assessments of wetlands at Blissville, Charlotte and Shelburne substations to determine whether herbicide use results in “negative wetland and buffer impacts,” and to submit the assessments to the PSB, Department of Public Service and Agency of Natural Resources. The PSB may reconsider this requirement after studying the results of the independent study described above.
4. The Board may revisit the issue of herbicide application at the affected substations based on the outcome of the study of herbicide migration and annual wetland assessments.
(See psb.vermont.gov/sites/psb/files/orders/2010/6860ORDreHerbicideUseatSubstations.pdf.)

On the positive side, we were able to get the PSB to acknowledge and take some oversight of VELCO’s use of toxins at substations, an important step in protecting our children, water resources and natural communities.
It is also positive that in place of sanctions against VELCO for willfully violating its Certificate of Public Good, the PSB now requires VELCO to take actions to address the problem of herbicide use and intends to keep watch over the issue. That means that we also need to be vigilant.
On the down side, the PSB accepted VELCO’s assertions that it can’t manage weeds safely without herbicides, at least for now. The PSB put the fox in charge of the henhouse by asking VELCO to do its own wetlands assessment rather than requiring it to pay for an independent assessment. The PSB overlooked VELCO’s failure to disclose during testimony its intended use of herbicides as long-term management at substations sited near wetlands, streams and neighborhoods. Neither potential for groundwater contamination from the herbicides nor notification of towns and neighborhoods is considered.

The Vermont Pesticide Advisory Council must now develop herbicide permits for substations, and we need to be at the table in that discussion.

How do we get electric substations or any other projects designed, planned, sited and constructed in ways that don’t require toxins for long-term management? Why should we allow projects to contaminate or deplete water needed for health and life and damage the natural communities we love? As we each acknowledge our dependence upon the water, air and soil we share with each other and other life forms – the whole community of life – we can begin to see the problems with short-term planning for profit and expediency. We can move toward long-term integrated planning to ensure that any project is beneficial for the whole community of life and for future generations. The time is right to seek a new way, and we need government to help us in this work.