Committee advances miscellaneous ag bill to phase in hazardous-waste EPR, expand paint stewardship and extend Ryegate deadlines

The Agriculture Committee met May 28 to review amendments to a miscellaneous agriculture bill that would (1) phase in a covered household hazardous‑products extended producer responsibility program, (2) expand a paint stewardship program to include additional paint‑related products and set statutory consumer fees, and (3) extend statutory deadlines for the Ryegate biomass power plant by one year.

The changes matter because they affect municipalities that run hazardous‑waste collection, manufacturers who will participate in stewardship organizations, consumers who may see statutory fees on some paint sales, and Ryegate employees and regional utilities tied to the plant's power‑purchase agreement.

Senator Watson, who presented the amendment, said it “really does 3 things,” describing a staged rollout for the covered household hazardous‑products EPR that begins with a simple registration and moves to an initial three‑year plan before transitioning to a full plan. Under the amendment, stewardship organizations must register on or before July 1, 2025, and provide more complete registration information beginning July 1, 2026. The initial three‑year plan is intended to let manufacturers and implementers identify which products will be covered and coordinate collection while the program ramps up.

Legislative counsel summarized key program mechanics: the initial plan focuses on registration, “free statewide collection,” and collection‑plan funding; the fuller plan — six months after ANR approval — will set out performance goals and how municipalities are compensated. The amendment sets a default initial performance goal of 7% (households participating) and requires the stewardship plan to “include how municipalities will be compensated for all costs attributed to collection for covered household hazardous products.” The amendment also delays an existing landfill‑disposal ban tied to program implementation by a year and gives the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) limited authority to grant variances to municipal collection requirements during the phased implementation.

The bill adds a new enforcement/backstop mechanism: if the stewardship organization fails to submit or cannot produce an approved plan, ANR may issue its own plan and assess manufacturers for the plan's cost plus an additional hazardous‑waste reduction assessment of 10% of total plan cost.

On paint, the amendment would move certain paint‑related products out of the household hazardous‑products program and into the state's paint stewardship program. The change expands the program beyond the current definition of “architectural paint” to include aerosol coating products, coating‑related products (for example: paint thinners, colorants, removers, sealants) and specified nonindustrial coatings. The text directs ANR to determine some borderline product coverage where the statute cannot enumerate every product.

The amendment also changes how consumer fees for paint products are set. Under the new language, assessments for currently covered architectural paint sizes are placed in statute rather than set solely by an approved stewardship organization; for non‑architectural paint products the secretary of natural resources will report recommended consumer fees by Dec. 15, 2025, so the Legislature can set statutory fees before the program’s implementation window. The bill delays full program implementation until July 2026 and ties full implementation to ANR approval of a collection plan.

Allison Crowley, identified to the committee as representing the paint/coatings industry and the American Coatings Association, told the committee the paint stewardship organization and industry stakeholders participated in drafting the changes and “we fully support the bill.”

On Ryegate (the Ryegate biomass electricity facility), a legislative staff member explained the background: statute in Title 30 requires utilities (except Burlington) to purchase electricity generated by Ryegate under a power‑purchase agreement and sets deadlines for facility upgrades. “If Ryegate misses that deadline, their power purchase agreement would terminate,” the counsel said. The amendment would push every statutory deadline in the timeline back by one year to give Ryegate time to complete planned upgrades; the statutory termination date for the current power‑purchase agreement in 2032 is unchanged.

Committee members voiced support for allowing additional time for Ryegate; one committee member said new ownership had improved trust and implementation prospects. Members also discussed that Ryegate’s change in plans was driven in part by tariffs and other procurement obstacles and that the company proposes to use excess heat to dry wood chips before combustion — a change one presenter described as “cannibalizing some of the energy.”

Committee members asked and received clarifications about the most technically challenging elements of the EPR rollout: convenience standards and safe handling for hazardous materials (which may limit retail drop‑off options), municipal compensation for collection costs, and how ANR and stewardship organizations would collaborate to finalize plans. One committee member asked how ANR will ensure quality control if a stewardship plan is submitted but deemed inadequate; presenters said ANR has experience working with stewardship organizations, that federal and state environmental standards govern disposition methods, and that the agency could return plans for revision or adopt a plan itself if necessary.

On procedural next steps the committee signaled support for the amendment and indicated it would be reported out of committee for further consideration. Several implementation items remain for later action, including ANR approvals, a statutory fee recommendation for non‑architectural paint by Dec. 15, 2025, and final collection‑plan approvals tied to a July 2026 implementation window.

Less critical details discussed included two tax provisions the finance committee did not advance (a $10,000 farm income deduction and a net capital‑gain carve‑out) and a narrow technical request from the Department of Forests and Parks to reinstate an emergency harvesting rule as if it had been published in 2018; those items were discussed separately in finance and are not part of the EPR/paint/Ryegate implementation details covered here.