WVTK Local & State News June 20, 2013

There are a lot of Cornwall citizens who do not want a natural gas pipeline to come to the International Paper Mill at Ticonderoga.  More than a hundred people attended a meeting last night to speak out against the proposed Addison Natural Gas pipeline which would run through six local properties.  The town will receive close to a quarter million dollars a year for hosting the pipeline and those along the route can tap into it, but Cornwall remains one of several towns on the route against the project.  A final route will be decided in the late summer or early fall.

Vermont state agencies are investigating the death of fish in an Addison County Lake and whether a pesticide sprayed to control mosquitoes caused the fish kill.  The fish kill was noticed in Fern Lake several days after a chemical was sprayed in the area to kill mosquitoes. A Fish and Wildlife biologist said the fish died from spawning stress and increasing water temperatures. An additional report by state aquatic biologist Rick Levey said the die off ‘‘may be related’’ to the spraying.  The area near Fern Lake is part of Brandon, Leicester, Salisbury, Goshen Mosquito Control District that sprays pesticides to control larvae and adult mosquitoes.  The district has sprayed the area for 20 years with no reported problems.

Vermont Livestock has put plans on hold to build a new slaughterhouse and meat-cutting facility in Middlebury’s industrial park.  The Ferrisburgh-based company is instead seeking to move those operations into an existing building in that same area.  They have filed an application with Middlebury’s planning office calling for Vermont Livestock to redevelop and occupy approximately two-thirds of one of the current building at the site.

If a state lawmaker has his way, it’s going to take less alcohol for a driver to be legally drunk.  State Representative Bill Lippert is working on a bill to lower the legal limit for blood alcohol content from point-08 to point-05.  It’s not the first time he’s tried this, with first proposing the change in 2000 and again five years ago.  He says someone is already impaired at the lower reading, and believes reducing the limit will end up reducing the number of fatalities.

The town of Brandon will begin fiscal year 2014 without a budget.  The proposed budget of $3-million with over $2.3 to be raised by taxes was voted down on Tuesday by fewer than 50 votes, 371-326, sending the selectboard back to the budget workshop table again.  The 697 total votes amount to a roughly 25 percent voter turnout.

Middlebury College is world-renowned for its summer Language Schools and the Bread Loaf School of English. Starting next year, the college will add one more intensive summer program to its portfolio: a six-week, interdisciplinary, “full-engagement” School of the Environment, which will bring students, faculty and guest speakers from around the world to Vermont.

Champlain Valley Agency on Aging is seeking volunteer drivers to deliver hot, nourishing Meals on Wheels to senior neighbors in the Bristol area.  Volunteers also provide a needed safety check on seniors.  Meals are delivered once a week or every other week, whatever the volunteer’s schedule will allow.  Meals runs take only one hour.  For more information, call Addison County RSVP and the Volunteer Center at 802-388-7044.