§ 2826. Environmental notice bulletin; permit handbook

(a) The Secretary shall establish an environmental notice bulletin, in order to provide for the timely public notification of permit applications, notices, comment periods, hearings, and permitting decisions. The bulletin shall consist of a website and an e-mail notification system. The Secretary shall ensure that the website for the bulletin is readily accessible from the Agency's main web page.

(1) When 10 V.S.A. chapter 170 requires the posting of information to the bulletin, the Secretary shall post the information to the bulletin's website.

(2) When 10 V.S.A. chapter 170 requires notice to persons through the environmental notice bulletin, the bulletin shall generate an e-mail notification to those persons containing the information required by that chapter.

(3) The Secretary shall provide members of the public the ability to register, through the bulletin, for a list of interested persons to receive e-mail notification of permit activity based on permit type, municipality, proximity to a specified address, or a combination of these characteristics.

(4) If an individual does not have an e-mail address, the individual may request to receive notifications through U.S. mail. On receipt of such a request, the Secretary shall mail to the individual the same information that the individual would have otherwise received through an e-mail generated by the bulletin.

(b) The Secretary shall publish a permit handbook that lists all of the permits required for the programs administered by the Department of Environmental Conservation. The handbook shall include examples of activities that require certain permits, an explanation in lay terms of each of the permitting programs involved, and the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of the person or persons to contact for further information for each of the permitting programs. The Secretary shall update the handbook periodically. (Added 1993, No. 232 (Adj. Sess.), § 23, eff. June 21, 1994; amended 2003, No. 115 (Adj. Sess.), § 5; 2015, No. 150 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. Jan. 1, 2018.)