Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire

Major Energy and Environmental News and Commentary affecting the Nuclear Industry.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Vermont nuke plant still lobbying for new license

MONTPELIER, Vt. -- Shot down once, the owners of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant continue pushing for a second vote by state lawmakers for a license extension allowing it to stay open past 2012.
But they've been less active than expected in donating to legislative candidates who might help them this year. Instead, they are pouring money into TV, radio and newspaper advertising, lobbying lawmakers and civic groups and supporting plant workers who stand to lose their jobs if it closes.
Vermont is the only state that has given itself the power to turn thumbs down on a re-licensing. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission typically has that authority.
Campaign finance records show the political action committee of plant owner Entergy Corp. has donated less than $10,000 to candidates and committees since 2009, a sharp drop from $107,000 given in the two previous years.
A complete accounting is all but impossible, though: Vermont's campaign finance laws don't require political donors to identify their occupations, employers or political interests, so it's hard to identify all the money being donated to campaigns by the nuclear plant's employees, contractors or executives.
Meanwhile, its owners are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on an "I Am Vermont Yankee" advertising campaign that showcases plant workers talking about their jobs and the importance of the plant to Vermont's economy.
And lobbyists for New Orleans-based Entergy Corp. have been quietly pressing lawmakers in hopes of a vote that would reverse a state Senate vote last February to block the plant from operating past 2012.
Vermont has for years had a love-hate relationship with the plant officially known as Vermont Yankee Nuclear Generating Station, with ratepayers prizing it for cut-rate electricity and environmental advocates denouncing it as a potential danger.
But the 2007 collapse of a cooling tower and revelations that its representatives misled state officials about leaks of radioactive tritium and strontium-90 have fueled pushes to shut it down when its license expires - or sooner.
Located in Vernon, along the banks of the Connecticut River, Vermont Yankee opened in 1972. It produces 650 megawatts of power per hour, half of which stays in Vermont, the rest going to other New England states.
Its battle for continued operation comes as nuclear power is enjoying renewed cache - in some places - as a clean energy alternative to fossil fuel power. Last year, President Barack Obama called for construction of a new generation of nuclear plants, backed by billions in federal loan guarantees.


Read more: http://www.sunherald.com/2010/10/03/2524631/vermont-nuke-plant-still-lobbying.html#ixzz11PGYJb00

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