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Vermont, Intervale Compost reach deal

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Thursday, 01 July 2010

Vermont, Intervale Compost reach deal By Candace Page Free Press Staff Writer Thursday, July 1, 2010 Chittenden Solid Waste District will continue to compost food waste in Burlington's Intervale until March 1, thanks to an 11th-hour agreement with the state Attorney General's Office. The operation, known as Intervale Compost, was to have closed Wednesday, under a court-approved deal last year with the state. That would have forced the district to spend thousands of dollars to ship more than 44 tons a week of food waste to operators outside the county -- or to shut down the well-established composting program until a new $1.25 million compost operation opens in Williston next year. Instead, the district agreed to pay the state $10,000 to be used on an unspecified environmental project, and the attorney general agreed to amend the closure deadline to March 1, 2011. "First and foremost, we want to keep composting happening in the county," Attorney General Bill Sorrell said Wednesday. "The solid waste district is a responsible operator, but they need more time to get their permits done" for the Williston facility. CSWD general manager Tom Moreau said the district is on track to obtain permits for a state-of-the-art composting operation on Redmond Road in Williston. If the new facility is delayed, the amended agreement with Sorrell binds the district not to seek another extension beyond March 1. Instead, the district would be required to spend up to $25,000 shipping food waste elsewhere. Moreau said he hopes to sign contingency agreements with composters in Middlebury and Moretown. The state has been trying to move composting out of the Intervale for a number of years over concerns the operation disturbs American Indian artifacts in the soil and that the Winooski River could flood the low-lying site. CSWD took over composting from the nonprofit Intervale Center, and agreed to a June 30, 2010, deadline to stop accepting new waste. But the search for a new location took longer than expected before the district settled on a site near its Williston headquarters. Sorrell said the $10,000 payment is not a penalty, but is intended to acknowledge that some people, including some state officials, wanted composting ended right away. "There is a bit of a quid pro quo here," he acknowledged of his office's insistence on a monetary payment in return for giving Intervale Compost another eight months of life, "but I hope it is a win-win for everybody." http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20100701/NEWS02/7010306/Vermont-Intervale-Compost-reach-deal

 

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