The Mountains of Vermont Yankee by Meredith Angwin

The Mountains of Vermont Yankee

by pbowersox

by Meredith Angwin
When I am reading an article or a blog post, I always appreciate when the writer places the immediate events into a bigger context. I always try to do this myself. Putting Vermont Yankee issues in context, however, is like facing a huge mountain range. There is always another set of hills beyond this one. Which mountain? Which context? Where to start?
In this post, I’m going to try to look at the mountain range, instead of the individual peaks. That’s one way to put Vermont Yankee in context. I hope.
The first mountain: Vermont Yankee and the Constitution
When Entergy brought a lawsuit against the Vermont legislature’s attempts to shut down the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, it brought the suit on constitutional grounds. It won on constitutional grounds:  The Supremacy Clause (federal law is supreme over state laws) and the Commerce Clause. Two good discussions:
District Court Upholds the Rule of Law by George Angwin
Entergy Vs. Vermont In Plain English by Tamar Cerafici