Vermont Yankee and the Legislature
I have had many calls and messages asking me to please vote to close Vermont Yankee both before and after the recently found tritium leaks.
By statute, the legislature only has the right to decide on the “Continued Operation” of the plant beyond 2012. If the legislature voted “no” today, this would not close the plant tomorrow. The closing date would still be March 21, 2012.
Neither do we have authority to vote on whether the plant is safe or a risk to public health. That lies in the hands of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Depart of Health respectively. In fact, if the legislature should vote not to continue operations based on safety, we would be entirely outside of our jurisdiction and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission could pre-empt our right to vote. For that reason, I share everyone’s concerns about safety, but if called to vote, I must base my vote on issues related to economics and reliability and leave the safety decisions with the experts.
If and when the current crisis is over and the NRC and Vermont Health Department are satisfied, the Speaker and Senate Pro Tem will order committees to start hearings on the economic value and reliability of the plant. Testimony will revolve around 1) a thorough review of the power-price offer, 2) the request to spin off to Enexus, 3) the decommissioning fund and 4) misrepresentations made by Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee. All of these can be considered by the legislature. Speaker Shap Smith is holding firm that this process be disciplined, thoughtful and very complete. When these questions are answered, we will be ready to vote.
As it currently stands, Yankee is not looking so good in any of these areas: 1) The power-price offer of 6.1 cents is unacceptable to the utilities; 2) the spin-off to Enexus appears to offer little security to Vermont; 3) the decommissioning fund is grossly under funded and 4) there is a serious breach of trust stemming from critical misinformation provide by Vermont Yankee.
In the meantime, various legislative committees are looking at different aspects of Vermont Yankee. As I serve on the water resources committee, I have been following tritium testing in drinking water, ground water, and the surface waters of our rivers and streams. Health Commissioner Dr. Wendy Davis and Radiologic Health Chief Dr. William Irwin are speaking to our committee on a weekly basis. Staff from the Departments of Health, Environmental Conservation and Agriculture are on site forming teams and undergoing safety and security training. One of their tasks will be witnessing the taking of water, fish and sediment samples in order to insure no break in the “chain of custody” occurs from the taking of samples to the reporting of results. It is likely that ground water contamination will head east toward the Connecticut river, however the shear volume of water makes it unlikely that it could ever be detected.
News from Vernon is changing on a daily basis. I will continue to stay informed and post updates on my website: www.katewebbvt.com.
Please join Joan Lenes and me at Open Arms on Tuesday mornings in February from 7:30-8:30. I will also be at Village Wine and Coffee most Monday afternoons from 4:30-5:30. Call or email to make sure. 985-2789; 233-7798; KLWebb22@mac.com