Permit Business
Bureaucratic

Although Vermont’s complex environmental permit requirements and protections are supposed to increase citizen participation in decision making, I have found recently that they are being used to accomplish the opposite. The Clear Source operation in Randolph/Randolph Center is a good example. The Vermont way of doing business is losing to a complex bureaucracy, which has been producing results that are not satisfying to citizens or the company and those impacted by its operation.

For example, Clear Source has, over the last several months, been running water trucks throughout the night through historic Randolph Center. I visited the company in early June, after warmer weather forced windows open, and truck noise was continually waking up folks who live off the roads of operation.

I wanted to learn more about their business and to see if, regardless of what their permits allow, we could work together to arrive at a solution to enable them to meet their business objectives - while allowing some of us to experience at least 8 hours of reasonably quiet time during the night. They told me they would look into and work on this problem.

During this time, I also contacted the town and the District Environmental Commission and learned conflicting information about their permitted trucking hours and other matters covering their overall operation. In my opinion it is unfortunate, (and leads to confusion) when government has reached a point where those responsible are not in basic agreement over issues like permits, or furthermore, (in this instance) claim little or no responsibility for the governance of matters such as these.

To adequately describe this single issue would take far too long to explain – apparently however, at least 10 current permits govern this operation, detailing a list of matters including water withdrawal, zoning, plant construction, storage, and trucking.

In late June a hearing was conducted by the District Environmental Commission, but because it was held on a Wednesday morning I doubt that many interested parties were able to attend. What bothers me is that after speaking with the company, the town and the District Commission, I (away on business and travel that week) have been denied "party status", and therefore have no right to comment upon something that greatly affects my family. If I, after talking with the town, the company and the District Commission about my concern still cannot participate, what about many others who may not have noticed the official paper notice or were unable to take time off from their jobs that particular Wednesday morning?

I would like to propose another way to start handling issues like this in the future. Why can’t interested citizens sit down with company officials and try to reach compromise on these and other similar matters? Then together, wherever possible, we could propose solutions to the appropriate permitting officials.

We have reached a point in society where working hours and responsibilities often keep people from their homes too much to be adequately involved in important issues, and where an increasingly complex process is working to exclude folks more than inviting them to have input. If business and permitting law have reached a stage (and I believe this is but one example of many) where the complexities for being heard are actually working against public participation, can’t we try another way to include all interested Vermonters’?

Kevin P. Doering

Randolph Center