Despite Governor Scott's $8 million commitment to restoring Vermont's waterways and funding clean water initiatives in his recent budget proposal, representatives in the Vermont Legislature have so far failed to live up to their responsibilities to help ensure we all have clean water.
The budget passed by the House has stripped the governor's $8 million for clean water and spent the money elsewhere.
We hope this choice was made because the Legislature plans to identify a new source of funding for clean water and that lawmakers don't want to take money from the many other state priorities.
Water-quality advocates, including the Connecticut River Conservancy, have been working for years now to advocate for a stable, ongoing source of clean-water funding.