Letters to the Editor (7/26/23)

Kudos for Flood Coverage

“Gobsmacked” — his very words, when my husband saw the “Historic and Catastrophic” cover of Seven Days [July 12]. It is a superb piece of journalism with timely reporting on this devastating event.

I have sent links for the digital version and for Eva Sollberger’s “Stuck in Vermont” to out-of-state and out-of-country friends.

Kudos to all the staff for making it happen, and thanks to Paula Routly for “From the Publisher” — and for including the Bill Blachly cover photo.

Jane B. Holt

Hinesburg

‘Off and Insensitive’

Before deciding to write this, I passed around the newsletter I received in my email titled “From the Publisher: Best-Laid Plans” [July 12] to my colleagues and asked them what they thought of it. I had just spent the previous day packing up books that could be salvaged from a local nonprofit in Montpelier, still waiting for my own basement to dry (as of today, it still hasn’t). The response was unanimous: It read as tone-deaf.

While a peek behind the decision-making curtain is valuable — and recognizing the work, time and value of articles that were being replaced by natural disaster coverage is in itself valuable — the timing and delivery just felt off and insensitive. Tying the 2011 Performing Arts Preview issue from Tropical Storm Irene to Unadilla Theatre and this flooding does have a poetic irony, but again, the delivery and tone were just not there, despite seeing what the publisher may have been trying to convey.

Maybe next time there is a natural disaster, because there is always a next time, rather than focusing on how disappointed you are in not publishing what you had initially intended — regardless of the noble sentiment behind it, and no disrespect to Unadilla (I love you and the theater community) — focus on the people who lost their businesses, their livelihood, their homes. Then wait a week or two and deliver the peek behind the curtain.

Sarah DeBouter

Berlin

Canal Cleanup

Thanks, Courtney Lamdin, for writing “Taming the Wild” [July 19]. This letter aims to clear up inaccuracies. MycoLab, the community branch of MycoEvolve, is one of the site’s primary land stewards, conducting ecological inventory through community science events and offering ecological restoration and educational programs to encourage eco-literacy in the local community. So far, five college class projects have occurred on-site and two acres of non-native species have been removed. To learn more and join our efforts, check the event calendar on the MycoEvolve website (mycoevolve.net).

The shared vision of Friends of the Barge Canal and MycoLab is the conservation, restoration, remediation and rematriation of the Superfund sites. This involves conserving the land from development; removing non-native species; remediating toxins (hydrocarbons and heavy metals) through robust scientific bio, myco and phytoremediation pilot trials once the land is conserved; and eventually returning cleaned habitat to the public, with the Abenaki as primary stakeholders.

With rising lake levels and increasing stormwater running through the site, riparian/wetland habitats like those at the Barge Canal site are critical to protect, modeling creative, resilient, solution-oriented land stewardship. Our watershed, youths and future deserve this reorientation and support!

Jess Rubin and the MycoLab team

Burlington

All the World’s a Stage

[Re “Well Played,” July 12]: To the end of their days, my midwestern flatlander parents would recall fondly the highlight of their first visit to Vermont.

They visited in the mid-1960s, soon after I had moved here with my young family. One of my new friends happened to also be my state legislator (welcome to Vermont!). Looking for things to do with my parents, I asked the friend if he could arrange a tour of the Statehouse; he obliged by conducting the tour himself.

We thought the tour was winding down when, unexpectedly, the young legislator ushered us into the governor’s office and introduced us to then-governor Phil Hoff.

Even as a lawmaker, Bill Blachly had a flair for the dramatic.

Jim Rader

Burlington

‘Wind Power Is Dead’

Very good write-up on “green power” [“Electric Avenues,” April 12]. One of the developers of this inefficient power production scheme claimed that Vermont was being a “laggard” in green production! These developers, James Moore and Peter Sterling, are feeding at the public trough and want to lick the plate. Freepoint Commodities from Connecticut wants to and is using Vermont as its toilet for solar development — to create income for its clients.

Thankfully, wind power is dead in Vermont, even though the folks in the Statehouse acted like the bagmen for them and allowed the developers to use payment in lieu of taxes on their “wind farms.” The Public Service Board thought that was a good way to help the developers. The carbon credit lie is a way to fool the climate-warming nuts into thinking they’re saving the planet. Everyone will eventually realize atomic energy is going to be the answer.

For now, the greenies can waste their trust fund money on EVs, etc., when all the low-info voters had to do was vote these progressives — and their DEI, CRT and the rest of their nonsense — out of the Vermont legislature next year. These people are hell-bent on fooling you into thinking Vermont is about to burst into flames if we don’t react to the global warming scam while they kick back and live on their trust funds and dividend checks.

Carbon dioxide makes up 0.04 percent of the air. Everything that grows green requires it to produce oxygen. If they listened to their eighth-grade teacher instead of Al Gore and John Kerry, they would know that.

Gordon Spencer

Lowell

Wake Up

Seven Days reporter Anne Wallace Allen has been writing about the growing opposition to wake boats on Vermont lakes since last summer. More recently, the state has drafted rules restricting the powerful watercraft from coming within 500 feet of shore to prevent erosion and other damage. Many say it should be at least 1,000 feet; others suggest the boats should be banned from all but Vermont’s largest lakes: Champlain and Memphremagog.

The following letters respond to “New Proposed Wake Boat Rules Edge Toward a Compromise,” June 20, online; “Wake Boat Opponents Pack Vermont Hearing on Regulation,” February 17, online; and “Water Wars: Opponents of Wake Boats Seek New Rules, Roiling Lake Communities,” August 24, 2022.

Water Belongs to All

Wake boats are designed solely to create huge wake waves so that a couple of people can “surf” on this wave in our otherwise relatively calm lakes. These waves are unarguably destructive and dangerous to most other users. And, unless strictly controlled, they will spread invasives and stir up the nutrients that currently are deposited on the bottoms of our lakes.

They should be banned on almost all Vermont lakes, which are simply too small to have their center waters taken over by the presence of these boats. The current proposal by the state to keep them 500 feet from the shorelines of the many lakes where they will be allowed means that all other normal uses — canoeing, sailing, fishing, swimming, floating, wading — will be limited to an even narrower area along the shore, where the waves have gotten less dangerous.

This is a taking of the enjoyment of our publicly owned waters for the exclusive pleasure of a very few users in expensive craft. Forget sailing where the wind blows the best; kayaking; canoeing; the challenge of swimming across the lake; fishing in the deep, cooler waters in the summer; having children in the shallows; and more.

They must be stopped and the only way to do this is to get involved. Participate in the upcoming hearings. Contact the Agency of Natural Resources. Let them know that these waters belong to all of us, not just a select few.

Peter Erb

Hinesburg

‘Vermont Deserves Better’

I am writing to advocate for strengthening the proposed wake sport rule, bringing it back to 1,000 feet as originally proposed.

Responsible Wakes for Vermont Lakes brought its wake sport petition on behalf of 14 specific lakes, chosen for size, location and popularity — factors making them vulnerable to abuse. The petition called for wake sports to take place 1,000 feet from shore, but the state dropped that distance down to 500 feet. The state’s rule now excludes most of the petitioning lakes from adequate protection.

Vermont has more than 800 lakes and ponds. However, only 73 lakes currently allow motorboats operating over 5 mph. The other 700-plus are already fully protected from wake sports. Many of the 73 are small, shallow ponds obviously inappropriate and rarely, if ever, visited by wake boats. Such ponds are not particularly at risk. Thus, the state created the illusion of a solution without the reality of significant change.

The state has effectively abandoned small lakes caught in the middle. These lakes are just barely big enough to entice wake boats. Now, wake sports will not only be explicitly welcomed, but they will also be granted privileged status to dominate, claiming the deepest areas often barely 500 feet from shore. This was never the intent.

It is frustrating and disheartening to hear the familiar “It’s better than nothing” argument used in defense of an inadequate rule. Wake sports must be regulated thoughtfully to preserve our lakes and ponds for future generations. Vermont deserves better!

Meg Handler

Hinesburg

Threat to Serenity

I agree 100 percent with Chip Stone and disagree 100 percent with Rodney Putnam or anyone else who wishes to indulge on these small bodies of water that simply should be used for canoeing, kayaking and the ever-growing paddleboarding. Neglecting our waterways and flooding them with unnecessary watercraft have become major problems in our beautiful state of Vermont. Go to the big lakes and seas with your big boats so the rest of us can enjoy our serenity.

Jeff Shedd

Burlington

Boats Are Bad for Vermont

Chip Stone had it right when he said wake boats should be banned from Vermont’s inland lakes. The rule being crafted by the state is a step in the right direction but does not go far enough.

The three- to four-foot wakes generated by these boats are dangerous for others who want to enjoy traditional uses like paddling, fishing, swimming and sailing on our relatively small lakes. The problem will only get worse as the number of wake boats increases and bigger and more powerful wake boats are built.

The environmental impacts from the big wakes are many: eroding shorelines, disturbing wildlife and stirring up lake bottoms. The ballasted boats travel with their sterns submerged deep in the water, allowing their propeller wash to disturb sediments 20 to 30 feet deep. This eggbeater effect releases nutrients like phosphorus, which in turn promotes weed and algae growth and destroys fish and aquatic habitat.

The wake boat industry has already spent $30,000 lobbying to kill the rule being proposed by the State of Vermont, no doubt arguing that a rule would be bad for the economy. But the state has estimated that the economic benefits of its rule, including preservation of water quality and protection of the tourist economy, would outweigh the costs by 10 to one.

Concerned Vermonters should plan to submit written comments or attend one of the state’s two hearings in early August. For details, see dec.vermont.gov/watershed/lakes-ponds/rulemaking.

Phil Dodd

Montpelier

‘Historic and Catastrophic’ : Unrelenting Rain Swamped Vermont’s Cities, Towns and Hamlets. The Recovery Is Just Beginning.

Vermonters were reeling after two days of torrential rain brought widespread flooding to rural towns, swamped the Capital City, trapped residents and destroyed livelihoods. The…