Gov. Phil Scott has allowed a major climate bill aimed at reducing damages from flooding to become law without his signature.
The Flood Safety Act calls for the creation of Vermont's first-ever statewide regulations on new development in river corridors.
That’s the area where rivers move when they change course over time, sometimes cutting fast and dangerous channels during flood events.
Most of the flooding in Vermont happens there, and building in river corridors is not regulated by FEMA, nor do many people who live there have flood insurance for their properties.
The policy also strengthens protections for wetlands, which slow and filter floodwaters, and it creates stricter regulations on private dams as well as a new program to fund removals and repairs.
Lauren Oates is with the Nature Conservancy, which lobbied for the bill.
"We really need to think differently about how and where we built, and this is an essential first step in making Vermonters safer in the years and decades ahead," Oates said.
Scott says he supports the goals of the bill, but he called the three-year timeline for building out the new regulations unreasonable. He says the Agency of Natural Resources will ask lawmakers next session for more time.
“With the program anticipated to have a sizable impact on communities and landowners, this pace is reckless,” Scott said.
Scott says the Agency of Natural Resources will ask lawmakers next session for more time.
Senate President Pro Tem Phil Baruth called the bill visionary in its scope, and said meeting Vermont’s flood-related challenges — exacerbated by climate change — head-on was a top priority for legislators.
“I believe that in decades to come, S.213 will be seen as the moment Vermont got serious about preparing for the worst of climate change,” Baruth said.
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