The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (Vermont DEC) received a request from Green Mountain Power Corporation for water quality certification as part of a project on January 22, 2021. According to federal regulations, they have one year to act on this request, with the deadline to act being January 22, 2022. If Vermont DEC does not respond by this date, they will waive their authority to certify the project under the Clean Water Act. This information was communicated to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on January 25, 2021.
Simple Explanation
The Vermont environment office got a request to check if a water project is okay to do, and they have until next January to say yes or no. If they don't respond by then, it's like they're saying it's okay without checking.