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What About Lake Memphremagog?
by Scott Wheeler/Derby, Vermont

A week doesn't go by without me turning on the WCAX News or picking up the Burlington Free Press and not hearing/reading about the move to clean up Lake Champlain. Even our governor and the other politicians in
Montpelier and Washington D.C. are involved in raising millions of dollars for the project. Woe to the developer who allows run off to drain from his parking lot into a dry streambed, or to the farmer accused of spreading manure
too close to a stream.
It's about time that we start taking the health of Lake Champlain seriously - but what about the bodies of water in the rest of the state? Yes, there are other bodies of water out there although they don't make the news quite so often as Lake Champlain.

So the folks along Lake Champlain want to clean up the lake - more power to you. I hope you succeed. But what would you think if a good share of the state's trash was dumped near a major tributary to the lake in a landfill that towers over the lake. The very idea seems bizarre at best - no local, state, or federal officials would possibly allow anything quite so bizarre. Or would they? Think again. That scenario isn't playing out on Lake Champlain, but it is on Lake Memphremagog.

Stretching about 30 miles from Newport, Vermont, to Magog, Quebec, Lake Memphremagog is the source of drinking water to tens of thousands of people living in Quebec. So much for being good neighbors.
The state of Vermont is possibly jeopardizing their water source in an effort to keep the rest of Vermont clean. A landfill operated by Casella Waste Management is built a short distance from the Black River, a major tributary to the lake, with Lake Memphremagog located a couple miles down stream.

The state not only allows Casella to operate in this location, but they're now being allowed to expand, an expansion that will make it one of the largest landfills in the Northeastern United States. While I'm sure Casella operates a fine operation, and I've heard "experts" testify about how safe the landfill is and how it poses no threat to the health of the lake, I'm still not quite sure what to think. I guess I'm just skeptical of the "experts". While they're able to answer many of the peoples'questions, they don't seem to have any answers about why the river below the landfill is virtually void of muskrats, frogs, and other species that act as barometers of the health of our bodies of water. Would the "experts" be so much in agreement if the landfill was located near Lake Champlain? I honestly don't think so. There would be an uproar heard around the state.

I find it troubling to see the very same government officials, including Governor Jim Douglas, a man that I voted for, celebrating the clean up of Lake Champlain while allowing, or at least ignoring, the continued expansion of a landfill virtually on the doorstep to Lake Memphremagog. Seems to me like a bit of discrimination or at least hypocrisy at work at the expense of the Northeast Kingdom.

It's strange how the media is quick to jump on any issue relating to Lake Champlain, but is much quieter on this issue relating to Lake Memphremagog, at least the American media. Many people in Quebec are infuriated by Vermont's arrogance to allow the Casella landfill to expand.
The topic is alive and well in Quebec. Canadian officials have gone as far as to contact President Bush with their concerns.

I truly hope the move to clean up Lake Champlain and rest of the state continues, but how about not dumping all of your "clean up" in our lake - Lake Memphremagog.

One parting comment. There is also much in the news about placing wind generators in the Northeast Kingdom to generate electricity. I really don't have an opinion about the matter, but wouldn't these giant wind generators also look nice lining the shores of the Burlington waterfront and stretched across the summit of Mt. Mansfield? The Northeast Kingdom is more than an environmental and social experiment for the rest of the state.
It's my home, and the home to many other people who enjoy our rural way of life.

Scott Wheeler/Derby, Vermont

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