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Explainer: What Vermont’s 'required agricultural practices' do — and what the court ruling changed
Summary
Legislative counsel traced RAPs from 1991 rulemaking through the 2015 Act 64 change, explained what the RAP rule covers (manure management, setbacks, nutrient planning, training, direct-discharge limits) and highlighted legal ambiguities the Vermont Supreme Court's reading introduced for municipalities and farms.
Required agricultural practices (RAPs) in Vermont are management standards adopted by rule and enforced to reduce agricultural pollutants entering the state’s groundwater and surface waters. Legislative counsel Michael Grady briefed the committee on the origin, content and legal stakes for RAPs.
Grady summarized the legal history: RAPs were adopted by rule starting in 1991 and the General Assembly later clarified statutory language in 2015. He said the 2015 action made RAPs explicitly “required,” not merely “accepted,” and that Act 64 set out about a dozen subdivisions the RAPs must address. Those subject areas in the agency…
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