Time goes by and the public is still waiting for the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) to publish its final rule. While acknowledging that everyone feels frustrated by the delay, perhaps we can breathe hope into the fact that this process is taking so long. After all, there were so many public comments made in response to ANR’s draft rule that now the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) staff is finding it hard to make headway on its duty to respond. More than 82% of the 759 written comments submitted to ANR requested a distance from shore of 1,000 feet or more. Surely such strong support from members of the public must factor into finalization of the rule.
We are approaching four months since the final ANR public comment period that closed on August 10, and we continue to wait for ANR to finalize its responsiveness summary and complete the paperwork necessary for submitting this rule to the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR). ANR Secretary Julie Moore must then give her approval before we learn what ANR’s rule will be.
Meanwhile, we would like to remind everyone why our group continues to dedicate so much time and energy to wake boat regulation. How can we maintain our focus and determination when there are so many other pressing environmental issues in Vermont? Wake sports are only a tiny niche interest. Why is this issue still relevant? We can only respond with another question: Why does Vermont, as a State with a national reputation for environmental excellence, allow tiny niche interests to flourish at the expense of our wider communities, both human and natural?
Unfortunately, indulging a few individuals’ desire to engage in wake sports results in the degradation of broader public rights to clean water, healthy shorelines, personal safety, and more. One person’s desire to create ocean waves to surf on, far from the actual ocean, erodes the rights of everyone else — boaters, swimmers, paddlers, sailors, plants, animals, shorelines — impacting the very quality of the water itself.
Vermont is grappling with overwhelming water quality challenges that are complicated and massively expensive to fix. Climate change and environmental degradation are real. Opportunities for meaningful improvement are rare. Strong, proactive rules remain a difficult sell in a world predisposed to reaction rather than prevention.
This wake boat management rule is focused on prevention, providing Vermont the opportunity to take meaningful action while demonstrating leadership to the rest of the country. By acting now — at negligible government expense — Vermont can choose to prioritize health and safety, protecting our lakes for future generations. Public testimony from other states warns of the consequences of unchecked wake boat activity. Vermont has the rare chance to remedy this situation proactively before it becomes too overwhelming to fix.
This is what fuels our determination to persist. Many of us have been at this for nearly three years. But we know that the benefit — while hard to appreciate now, with so few wake boats operating in Vermont — is certain to pay off in the future. Right now, with the distance from shore set at 500 feet, the State’s rule continues to favor a few individuals over the public good. We hope Secretary Moore will be moved by the onslaught of public comments to remedy this imbalance by enacting an effective rule that truly safeguards our lakes and ponds.
Secretary Moore’s decision to support — or not — the 1,000-foot rule will set the stage for the next critical review before the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules. The committee, made up of 4 senators and 4 house members, can challenge ANR’s proposal. It will be the next crucial step in determining whether ANR yields to the minority of wake boat owners or abides the overwhelming support for a 1,000-foot rule or an outright wake boat ban on Vermont’s inland lakes.
In the meantime, we continue to maintain that such a rule requires a minimum distance from shore of 1,000 feet.