In his 1963 Letter from Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reminded us that “Justice too long delayed is justice denied.” After attending the May 6 Vermont Senate Natural Resources and Energy (NR&E) Committee hearing, Responsible Wakes for Vermont Lakes (RWVL) members saw that justice continues to be denied when it comes to the ANR-DEC’s enactment of wakesports regulation thus far.
From May 6, 2025, Senate NR&E Committee Meeting video: Watch the hearing HERE.
According to the Senate NR&E Committee, Chair, Anne Watson, the purpose of the meeting was because the Committee was “interested in something for next year potentially… [to] get an update… [and to] hear where we are and get people’s thoughts about where the state is on wake boats.”
In response, Agency of Natural Resources-Department of Environmental Conservation (ANR-DEC) staff Bethany Sargent (Deputy Director) and Laura Dlugolecki (Lake and Shoreland Permitting Analyst) delivered 30 minutes of discouraging updates on the wakesport-focused April 15, 2024, Use of Public Waters (UPW) Rule, highlighting several failures:
- 2024 ANR Home Lake Rule Not Implemented: Despite prior assurances, including at the February 2024 Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR) meeting, the rule wasn’t enacted last summer due to a lack of certified decontamination stations. As a result, Vermont lakes remained vulnerable to aquatic invasive species (AIS); new infestations were found last summer in Joe’s Pond (Eurasian watermilfoil) and Lake Memphremagog (Zebra mussels). Identification of these new and their proximity to many pristine NEK lakes — potentially through ballast tank transport — underscores the urgent need for state-certified decontamination stations and implementation of other aspects of the 2024 ANR/DEC Home Lake Rule.
- 2025 Implementation Also About to Fall Short of ANR’s Rule: With only 1–2 pilot decontamination stations planned, ANR will again fail to meet its requirements, continuing the AIS risk.
- Delayed ANR-DEC Action on 10 Individual Lake Wakesports Petitions: ANR has yet to complete pre-rulemaking on 10 citizen petitions (covering 11 lakes), with eight pending for over eight months due to staff and funding shortages. This delay presumably results from a lack of ANR-DEC staff capacity and funding — Ms. Sargent anticipates an ANR decision “within the next month or so.” Another round of public hearings on any additional rule changes will be required.
- Safety Overlooked in 2024 ANR Petition Rulemaking: The 2024 rule excluded water safety considerations entirely; ANR cited a lack of staff expertise and resources. Uncertainty remains whether this will happen again with the ANR 2025 rulemaking.
- Unclear ANR Plans for Future UPW Rules Revisions: ANR plans to revise the statewide 2024 rule in the summer of 2025 but hasn’t shared specifics with the public, raising concerns about potential weakening of the critically important Home Lake Rule.
RWVL testified to these failures and recommended:
- Prohibiting wakesports on all inland lakes.
- Increasing DEC funding to support staff and AIS prevention.
- Provide additional DEC funding by directing savings from reduced environmental damage, enforcement, and decontamination infrastructure.
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How You Can Help
Contact your Vermont House and Senate legislators. Choose one or more of the above failures that most impact your family, write a short letter to your local newspaper, and copy your legislators. Mention you’re a constituent or Vermont property owner in the subject line.
Resources to Support Your Letter
Visit RWVL’s website for more details and news links, including:
- 2024 ANR Home Lake Rule Not Implemented. See RWVL Newsletters entitled, “Status of Vermont’s New Wake Sports Rule Rollout,” click HERE, and see “A Win-Win, Simple, Low-Cost, Low-Effort Solution To the Wake Boat Home Rule Provision,” click HERE).
- 2025 ANR Home Lake Rule Implementation Also About to Fall Short. See Barton Chronicle article on May 7, 2025 entitled, “ANR must implement its wake boat Home Lake Rule,” click HERE. For Barton Chronicle article on April 17, 2025 entitled, “Plastridge & Andrews: Input Is Needed from State on Status of Wake Boats,” click HERE. For the Manchester Journal on April 24, 2025 entitled, “Widness: Wakeboat Rules Should Be Enforced,” click HERE.
- Delayed ANR-DEC Action on 10 Lake Wakesport Petitions. See Barton Chronicle article on April 17, 2025 entitled, “Plastridge & Andrews: Input Is Needed from State on Status of Wake Boats,” click HERE.
- Safety Overlooked in 2024 ANR Petition Rulemaking. “Swimmers and Wakeboats” click HERE); and “The Paddlers Speak Out,” click HERE). See “For the Year Ahead, the DEC Must Prioritize Public Safety” click HERE.
- Unclear ANR Plans for Future UPW Rules Revisions. See the following RWVL Newsletters: “We Ignore the Warnings of Other States at Our Peril” click HERE; “Swimmers and Wakeboats” click HERE); and “The Paddlers Speak Out,” click HERE). See “A Day on the Lake” click HERE). See “For the Year Ahead, the DEC Must Prioritize Public Safety” click HERE.
Share Your Advocacy
Send your letter to responsiblewakesvt@gmail.com. Encourage friends and neighbors to speak up too.
Let’s not allow wakesports justice in Vermont to be delayed any further.
