Keenan Hawkins

October 7, 2011

Jay Peak Resort must pay the Environmental Protection Agency $80,000 for Clean Water Act wetlands violations between 2004 and 2006. The affected watercourse flows into the Jay Branch Brook to the Missisiquoi River, and finally into Lake Champlain. Resort spokesman J.J. Toland blamed the violations on the resort's prior owners.

The wetlands violations occurred when contractors working for the Resort filled in over two acres of wetlands and streams while constructing a new golf course. Widely known as a snow skiing destination, Jay Peak aims to break into the four-season resort market with the new golf course and other expansion projects. The EPA directed Jay Peak to apply for after-the-fact permits for areas of wetlands fill that appeared essential to the golf course.

Orleans County, the home of Jay Peak, is also the site of one of the highest unemployment rates in Vermont. Instead of the Jay Peak Resort laying off workers at the end of ski season, year-round recreational activities could create 600-700 permanent jobs. The economic boost has already been felt; Jay Peak employed 200 local workers during the summer of 2009 construction season.

However, Jay Peak Resort's filling activities may contribute to dead zones in Lake Champlain. Eroded soil bonds quickly with phosphorous, negatively impacting water clarity, causing sedimentation of the lake bottom, and increasing algal blooms. Upon death, algae reduce dissolved oxygen to levels that kill aquatic life. Lake Champlain provides drinking water for 188,000 residents, and the watershed produces $500 million in agricultural products and roughly $4 billion in tourism income.

Sources:

David Deegan, Vermont Ski Area Pays Penalty for Wetlands Violations, Epa.gov (09/30/2011), http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/1b515fc96ef265e28525791b005249d1?OpenDocument.

EPA fines Jay Peak for wetlands violations, Burlington Free Press (1:29 PM, Sep. 30, 2011), http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20110930/NEWS02/110930013/EPA-fines-Jay-Peak-wetlands-violations.

Lake Champlain Watershed Water Quality Management Planning, N.Y.S. Department of Environmental Conservation, http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/71769.html (last accessed 10/04/11).

Mammoth Expansion Under Way At Jay Peak Resort, Channel 5 WPTZ-TV (3:12 am, July 30, 2009), http://www.wptz.com/money/20218774/detail.html.