Per today’s Rutland Herald:

In a repudiation of the state’s handling of wastewater treatment plant permits, an environmental court judge has tossed out an approval granted to the Montpelier facility.

There are significant potential long-term implications as a result of the ruling for all wastewater treatment plants that discharge into the Lake Champlain watershed – which includes two-thirds of the state and the majority of Vermont cities from Rutland to Burlington.

Judge Thomas Durkin, appointed by Gov. James Douglas, ruled that the Agency of Natural Resources had not done enough analysis of the impact of the plant on Lake Champlain before granting a permit renewal to the city of Montpelier.

This is kind of big.  Not only does it put every other plant producing similar pollution on warning that they may have to upgrade, it strikes a major blow against the laissez faire attitude towards pollution shown by the Douglas administration.