Senate Transportation hears VTrans update on stormwater progress, TMDL deadlines and funding needs

Senate Transportation took up stormwater funding and compliance on Thursday, Jan. 16, hearing from Agency of Transportation maintenance staff about progress under the TS4 (Transportation Separate Storm Sewer System) permit and related Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) plans.

Jen Callahan, who identified herself as working for the Agency of Transportation in the maintenance division in the pollution prevention and compliance section, told senators the agency has “reduced more than 28% of our target” as of the end of the 2023 construction season for the Lake Champlain phosphorus control effort. She said the agency is continuing project design and construction to meet multiple deadlines tied to flow-restoration and phosphorus-control plans.

The update matters because federal and state water-quality programs — implemented by the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) and reported to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — set numeric targets and deadlines that can require agencies to change practices, report annually and reapply for permits. Callahan told the committee the transportation-specific TS4 permit brings federal and state stormwater requirements together for the agency and is on a five-year renewal cycle administered through ANR.

Callahan described how stormwater responsibilities are distributed inside the agency: an environmental policy planner in intermodal policy; a stormwater engineer in the project-delivery/highway division who supports designers and project managers on scoping, design and permitting; a construction environmental…