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…

House Fish Wildlife and Water Resources Committee continues to follow the impact on water at the Vermont Yankee plant.  Health Commissioner Wendy Davis stated that the most striking development was the identification of tritium at much much higher levels.  She felt this really underscores their concern with the need to find the leak and take action.  Again, she reported no contaminated drinking water at this time.

Dr. William Irwin, radiological health chief, presented us with a map identifying various wells on the VY site.  The map identifies 4 contaminated GZ well sites with the G-7 site recently measuring at 775,000 picocuries (the limit for drinking water is 20,000).  Of the 7 sites tested for tritium leaks around the country, this is the second highest ever reported, with the highest being 800,000 (71,000  200,000  300,000  and 600,000 being other high levels for comparison purposes).  As this site is very close to the river, to active farms and a school, reports at this level of concentration raises this to a very serious public health issue.  The half-life of tritium is 12+ years.  It is not inconceivable that this could have happened long ago at much higher levels.

The G-7 site is in a courtyard of sorts between the reactor, turbine and the condensation storage tank.  The condensation storage tank is the largest container of radioactive water and is used by multiple systems.  It is the most densely piped and plumbed part of the site and is in the middle of…

While all eyes are on the multitude of issues and events arising from the Vermont Yankee plant, the Fish, Wildlife and Water Resources committee will begin to look at the impacts on water: drinking water, ground water, and the surface waters of our rivers and streams.  This week we heard testimony from Health Commissioner Wendy Davis who reported that no sampling external to the plant would cause her to conclude that there was an immediate health risk at this time.  No drinking water either on site or off site has shown any signs of tritium, however not knowing the source of the leak was extremely concerning.

We also heard from Dr. William Irwin, Radiological Health Chief at the Department of Health, who was on site at Vermont Yankee.  He reported that Normandeau Associates has been hired as an independent contractor to take water, sediment and fish samples.  Samples will be split, with one set going to the Department of Health and the other going to Vermont Yankee.  This week, DOH staff has been undergoing safety and security training.  Next week, they will be on site to witness the taking of samples.  This is not routinely done but is being implemented to insure the “chain of custody” throughout the process. The speed of this process will be determined by the pace and proximity of wells being drilled.

There are currently 30-32 existing wells (David – not sure what these wells are, but I think most of them don’t have anything to…

“A crisis is too important a thing to waste,” Rahm Emanual once said, suggesting that such times allow us to consider options that might otherwise have gone unseen.  Given the huge discrepancy between our financial demands and present resources, we definitely face a crisis and a more radical, more bold approach may well be required.

Typically, governments respond to a large budget deficit with a variation on three possible responses: raise revenues, cut expenses, sell assets, float bonds.   In tough times, these solutions alone may seem too painful, unfair, or simply not enough.  Is it possible then, that we could challenge some of these old solution assumptions?  By bringing the legislature and the agencies together, could we redesign the way services are delivered and produce better outcomes with less cost?

Such was the mission of the bi-partisan “Challenges for Change” group which met this summer.   Challenges for Change is a broad brushstroke agreement between the legislature and administration to address a $38 million dollar portion of the $150 million dollar deficit in the General Fund.  Representative Joan Lenes reviewed the structure of this in her Shelburne News article last week.

There has been much push-back and grumbling about this in Montpelier.  Legislators, non-profits, lobbyists and agency members don’t see how a thoughtful response can be made in such a short time.  Others complain about the lack of specifics.

Using the Challenge design, the legislature is removed from providing specific detail and must refrain from micromanaging.  All detail is…

HOUSE COMMITTEE PRIORITIES

It is Sunday evening and the close of the first week of the 2010 legislative session. The tone of the State House this year is somber as our fiscal constraints loom so large. While most of the news this week has been about the budget, here is some of what to expect from the 14 House committees this year:

1. WAYS AND MEANS: is concentrating on our revenue streams. Expect to hear about steps to provide for greater accountability, jobs creation initiatives, and another look at “current use.”

2. APPROPRIATIONS will focus on expenditures. They will work to create a balanced budget that reflects the values of Vermonters, knowing that many who depend on state government will receive less in the coming year due to the size of the deficit.

3. COMMERCE will address Vermont’s troubled unemployment insurance fund as well as strengthening long-term planning for Vermont’s economic future.

4. HUMAN SERVICES’ primary focus will be responding to budget challenges. As the economy struggles, Vermonters are seeking assistance who have never needed it before. We will hear about chronic mental health issues, changes in child abuse and neglect, and juvenile justice laws.

…

While all eyes are on the federal government activity to overhaul health care, here are a few bills recently signed into law in our state:

REFORMING HEALTH CARE:  H.444 was signed into law on June 2nd as Act 61.  This is a 124 page omnibus bill which positions Vermont to receive ARRA (federal stimulus) money for health information technology.  A partial list of features of this bill is as follows: 1) allows farmers and self-employed people to use depreciation as an allowable business expense for reporting income; 2) people who have lost their insurance no longer have to wait twelve months for state-sponsored insurance; 3) asks providers to develop recommendations to coordinate treatment of stroke patients in Vermont;  4)  sets up a pilot program to provide vaccines at no cost;  5) bans the use of the flame retardant known as “Deca” which has been found, ironically, to be highly toxic when it burns.

PRESCRIPTION DRUG MARKETING:  S.48 was signed into law on June 8th as Act 59.  One of the great contributors to rising health care expenses is the cost of prescription drugs.  Alarmingly, one-third of every dollar spent on prescription drugs goes into marketing. In 2002, Vermonters spent $377 million on prescription, over-the-counter and nondurable medical supplies.  In 2007, this number grew to $572 million or an average increase of 8.7% per year.

According to the April 2009 report of the Vermont Attorney General’s office, pharmaceutical manufacturers reported spending almost $3 million in Vermont on fees, travel expenses and…

It is a sad day for Vermont when the Governor vetoes a budget and calls the Legislature back in session; it is sadder still when the Legislature chooses to override that veto.  While the media and various pundits characterized this as a “Showdown in Montpelier,” this does not accurately reflect the seriousness and grief felt by many that this could not have been worked out through negotiation.

Most of us held out until the last minutes, hoping for an agreement between the administrative and legislative leadership.  The last day, we heard the closest they had come was to postpone some decision-making.  It was time to move forward with the 2010 budget, warts and all, make some corrections with the “Companion Bill” and encourage both leadership teams to begin in earnest to address the challenges in FY2011 and FY2012.

Make no mistake about it.  Both the Governor’s proposal and the Legislature’s budget, cut programs, cut spending, used ARRA (Federal Stimulus) funds, raised some revenues, cut some taxes and looked for savings.  Both budgets were balanced for FY2010 but faced difficulties in FY2011 and more so in FY2012.   The major difference between the budgets had to do with how FY2010 was balanced.  The Legislature left future burden on the General Fund while the Governor left the burden on the Education Fund, i.e. property taxes.

I voted to override the veto.  When I ran for election, I promised many people that I would work for quality education while also containing our distressingly high…

Let’s face it.  The budget is a moving target and anything I write today will be old news by Thursday.  So let’s talk about something completely different:  safe drinking water and H.80: An Act Relating to the Use of Chloramine as a Disinfectant in Public Water Systems.

Here is where everyone agrees: The importance of clean drinking water for our health and well-being cannot be underestimated.  It is our country’s commitment to clean water that eradicated such water-born epidemics as cholera and typhoid.

The Champlain Water District or CWD, serves a variety of towns in Chittenden County including Shelburne and has been a leader in the field of clean and safe water.  It was the first to receive the “Excellence in Water Treatment Award” for safe water and after ten years, is still only one of six in the country to retain this title.

The drinking water used by the CWD is drawn from Lake Champlain, 2500 feet out and 75 feet down. The treatment facility, located in Queen City Park serves 68,000 people.  To keep the drinking water clean and safe, the CWD treats the water in ways that meet the health and safety guidelines set by the EPA.  Not only is the district required to disinfect the water at the treatment plant, it must also insure that the water remains disinfected all the way down the miles and miles of piping.

The CWD used chlorine as a primary and secondary disinfectant for many years.  But chlorine alone has…

It is Sunday night, less than 24 hours since the House adjourned.  By the time you get this, any information I have to share about last week will be stale.  Instead of content on the final decisions in the Legislature, I thought I would take a moment to share a few observations from the perspective of a first year legislator.  Here are a few:

THE FLOOR:  The floor of the house is where all the theatrics take place. Opportunities for great sound bites abound and the presence of VPR streaming is irresistible for some.  The rules of the House keep us in order for the most part, allowing all voices to be heard and keeping the speeches relevant.  For me, the first time I spoke on the floor, I had my 2-sentence introduction written out and was worried about making a mistake.  Friday night, I presented the Senate amendment to the compost bill, survived a difficult interrogation, added an amendment and got the bill through on a unanimous vote.  It felt like growth.

THE COMMITTEE ROOM:  The serious work of the House happens in the committee room.  For most committees, we drop our partisan politics at the door, roll up our sleeves and get to the work at hand.  Some committees are focused on finances while others spend more time on policy. Each bill begins with a problem and makes a stab at a solution.  Through testimony from stakeholders, experts and state agencies, we either refine the bill, seek more…

Sorry, my link did not seem to work.  To view the bill as passed out of the House:

1.  go to http://www.leg.state.vt.us/

2.  Under “Legislative Information Database,” click on “display current status”

3. enter H.446 (remember period) and “display status”

4.  you can view the progress of the bill on the table. Under “bill text” click on “as passed the house”