Jim Douglas never met a ribbon he wouldn’t cut, and now he has officiated at a demolition. Nice parenthetical move, Governor!
The decaying bridge had a final moment of glory as it transformed from a lonely span across silent snow fields into a living garland of exploding debris.
As that image echoed in slow motion all over the internet, it got me to thinking about the frozen waters below. On a hunch, I phoned AOT and asked if anyone had thought to apply for a 1272 discharge order before the Governor pressed that fateful button. I was told by John Narowski’s office that no 1272 Order had been obtained because the bridge was under Coast Guard jurisdiction, but that permits had been issued in New York State. Nice. Apparently no one in the Douglas administration paid equal attention to satisfying our own regulations.
I am certainly no expert, but it would seem to me that when tons of mixed debris are to be discharged from great height into Vermont waters, a 1272 Order would absolutely be required; and no Federal jurisdiction would trump that requirement. Why else would there be permits regarding the blast from the State of New York? Poor beleaguered Lake Champlain just can’t seem to get a break from the Douglas Administration!
himself flexibility.
You might want to check who actually owns the water or lake. The CT river that borders VT and NH belongs ENTIRELY to NH and the VT border starts at its shoreline, not in the middle of the river like most states. Perhaps the same is true with the lake. Ethan Allen must have really pissed someone off back in the day.
I remember from my old topographic maps that the New York/Vermont border runs north-south right down the middle of the lake. It’s a pretty curvy line, so I’m not sure if it has any inherent logic, but aside from the vicinity of the Grand Isle County islands, the lake is probably about evenly divided between the states.
Well, thanks to this wonderful thing called the Internets, we can find out where the VT-NY border is. And according to Google Maps, it’s a wavy line down the middle of Lake Champlain. At the site of the Bridge, it’s roughly at the midpoint. So about half of that debris fell into Vermont waters.