Vermonters Take on Nuclear Power

[bananas]

Good article - explains some issues that aren't discussed much.

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2010/022710a.html

Vermonters Take on Nuclear Power

By Charlotte Dennett
February 28, 2010

Editor’s Note: As President Barack Obama is busy promoting a new generation of “safe” nuclear power plants, residents and legislators in Vermont are taking action to rid their state of nuclear power.

In this guest essay, Charlotte Dennett explains why Vermonters have come to distrust what they’re told by the owners of the Vermont Yankee plant:

A driving snowstorm could not keep Vermonters away from the statehouse in Montpelier as the Vermont Senate convened a historic debate and then voted on the future of the state’s aging nuclear power plant.

Some 1,300 people – most of them standing before live video coverage outside the small, overcrowded Senate chamber -- listened to several hours of respectful debate that even included the proposition of building a new nuclear power plant in Vermont as per President Obama’s pro-nuclear agenda.

But when it was all over, senators from both parties resoundingly voted against a last-minute amendment for a new plant to replace the old one, and similarly defeated re-licensure of Vermont Yankee in 2012 by a vote of 26 to 4.

Amidst cheers, clapping and hugs from the victors, it was clearly another Vermont moment for a state that prides itself on being cutting edge on social, political and environmental issues.

As the only state in the nation that by statute allows its legislature to decide whether to re-license a nuclear power plant, the vote is likely to have wide-reaching ramifications, including for residents of Massachusetts who live near the Vermont Yankee plant.

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