BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) – Developers, state officials and environmental activists all are trying to figure out how a recent ruling on stormwater permits will affect environmental regulation.

No matter how it’s implemented, the recent Water Resources Board decision ordering some Chittenden County developers to obtain federal rather than state stormwater discharge permits raised questions from all sides.

More than a week after the ruling, nobody seems sure just how much of an impact it will have on life in Vermont. Uncertainty, it seems, is the only thing certain at this point.

“We get calls from people wondering what this all means,” said Peter Laflamme, chief of the state’s stormwater section. “We can’t tell them. We’re scrambling. We’ve had some pretty frantic meetings.”

Oct. 14, the Water Resources Board ruled that developers in five watersheds of polluted streams in Chittenden County had to obtain a federal rather than a state permit before being allowed to add to the pollution by discharging stormwater.

The decision was hailed as a first-of-its kind ruling in the country. But it caught those who live and work in those polluted watersheds in the middle of the legal wrangling and the alphabet soup of state and federal permits.

Those who could first feel the effects of the ruling include developers, builders, and anyone who needs a stormwater permit to complete a real estate transaction in one of the impaired watersheds.

“Right now there are some real big conversations going on among attorneys to decide how we’re going to deal with it,” said Dan Smith, a lawyer with Downs, Rachlin and Martin.

Laflamme said his office was meeting with representatives of the federal Environmental Protection Agency to figure out what should be done in the wake of the board’s ruling.

Even people excited about the ruling realize it will take some time to decipher what it means.

“It’ll take a huge effort to implement effectively,” said Chris Kilian of the Conservation Law Foundation, an environmental group that appealed to the Water Resources Board for the ruling. “The process, I hope, will roll out of the next few weeks. I’m sure it won’t be next week.”

AP-ES-10-24-04 1213EDT