Governor Jim Douglas of Vermont is resisting pressure from some of his constituents and some groups from outside of his state. These organizations are in court trying to assert increased power for individual states to oversee nuclear power plant licensing and safety issues.
Governor Douglas’s position was described in an article that I found posted on Vermont Public Radio under the title of Governor skeptical of increased oversight of nuclear power. He indicated that he thought it would be a bad precedent to allow neighboring states to have an influence on the regulatory powers in other states and he indicated his support for continued operation of Vermont Yankee. Here is a quote from the article:
But Douglas says the plant has delivered inexpensive power for decades, and is a major reason Vermont electricity rates are low. He says there’s a good chance that Yankee will be re-licensed for another 20 years, after its current license expires in 2012.
As you probably know, Vermont also has the lowest per capita production of gases that cause global warming – my friend Ruth Sponsler of We Support Lee has written several great articles on that topic including one titled Vermont Yankee and Green Mountain State.
