The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 10 : Conservation and Development

Chapter 159 : Waste Management

Subchapter 001 : General Provisions

• § 6618a. School Polychlorinated Biphenyl Program Fund

  (a) There is created the School Polychlorinated Biphenyl Program Fund to be administered by the Secretary of Natural Resources to provide funding for the investigation, mitigation, and remediation of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at schools in Vermont. The Fund shall consist of:

  (1) Reimbursements from a school for work related to a grant issued by the State for PCB investigation, mitigation, and remediation when that school recovers money from litigation or other awards. The reimbursement shall be limited to the amount of the grant awarded to the school or the amount of the recovery, whichever is less.

  (2) Any litigation recovery by the State for the costs of addressing PCB contamination in schools, less attorney’s fees and costs.

  (3) Monies from time to time transferred to the Fund by the General Assembly.

  (4) Other gifts, donations, or other monies received from any source, public or private, dedicated for deposit into the Fund and approved by the Secretary of Administration.

  (b)(1) The Secretary of Natural Resources shall administer a program to issue grants to school districts to pay the costs, to the extent funds are available, of the following activities in order of the priority listed:

  (A)(i) PCB investigations that are a part of a facilities master plan; or

  (ii) indoor air quality testing of a school initiated voluntarily by a school district, provided that the school district notified the Secretary of Natural Resources of the testing and the school district conducts the testing according to the Department of Environmental Conservation’s standards for testing;

  (B) the development of PCB management plans;

  (C) the costs of mitigation when results exceed the immediate action level;

  (D) the costs of implementing any approved corrective action plan when, after mitigation efforts, the concentrations in the school exceed the immediate action level; and

  (E) the costs of implementing a corrective action plan as a part of a school construction project.

  (2) To the extent that funds are available, grants to school districts that are required to conduct investigation, mitigation, or remediation of PCB contamination in a school after Agency of Natural Resources testing shall be in an amount sufficient to pay for 100 percent of the costs at the school of investigation, remediation, or removal required by the Agency of Natural Resources Investigation and Remediation of Contaminated Properties Rule.

  (c) Notwithstanding any contrary provisions of 32 V.S.A. chapter 7, subchapter 5, unexpended balances and interest earned by the Fund shall be retained in the Fund from year to year.

  (d) If a school district in the State recovers money from litigation or other award for work covered under a grant issued under this section, the school district shall reimburse the State the amount of the recovery or the amount of the grant awarded to the school district under subsection (b) of this section, whichever amount is less.

  (e) In addition to any other remedy, the State may recover from a manufacturer of PCBs monies expended or awarded by the State for PCB investigation, testing, assessment, remediation, or removal of PCBs in a school above the relevant action level. (Added 2025, No. 130 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. June 15, 2026.)