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Federal Judge Overturns Vt. Nuclear Plant Shutdown

January 27, 2012

IBEW members who operate Entergy’s Vermont Yankee nuclear plant are cheering a January 19 decision by a federal judge overturning the state legislature’s 2010 vote to shut down the facility.

The decision by federal Judge J. Garvan Murtha follows a five-year campaign by Montpelier Local 300 to keep Vermont Yankee, which employs 700 workers--including 160 IBEW members of the  Montpelier local—open.

Environmentalists had pushed for the plant’s closure, arguing that prior radioactive leaks made the plant permanently unsafe. But the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted the 38-year-old, 650-megawatt plant a 20-year license early in 2011 after an in-depth, five-year review. Murtha ruled that the legislature pre-empted federal authority over the regulation of nuclear plant safety.

Commenting on the judge’s ruling, Local 300 Business Manager Jeffrey Wimette told Seven Days blog:

The bells are ringing in Windam County tonight. Hundreds of hard working, skilled and dedicated employees are now able to continue working and keep their jobs to provide for their families. The IBEW Local 300 and other highly skilled employees who work at Vermont Yankee place the highest emphasis on safety to ensure the facility is safe for all who work and live in the area.

In Feb. 2010, Local 300 commissioned a study finding that Vermont Yankee accounts for more than $78 million in Vermonters’ disposable annual income and more than $12 million annually in tax and local payments. Providing more than one-third of the state’s electricity at the lowest costs in New England, the plant contributed to Vermont having one of the smallest carbon footprints in the nation. Local 300 predicted that, if Vermont Yankee shut down, energy prices could see a 15 to 30 percent hike.

Addressing the concerns of environmentalists and community residents, Wimette says:

If members of the IBEW had any doubt about Vermont Yankee’s safety, they would be the first to blow the whistle. I congratulate the employees of Vermont Yankee for standing tall and keeping their faith over the past two years. The law has prevailed, not the lawmakers.

Murtha, who heard the case in September, said that the state legislature’s law—passed in 2006—requiring lawmakers’ approval before the state Public Service Board could consider renewing Vermont Yankee’s state certificate of public good--did  not empower the state to regulate safety at the plant. The Atomic Energy Act, he said, prevented the state from shutting down the facility on safety grounds.

While the state argued that safety concerns were not the primary issue in the 2010 senate decision to shut down the plant, Murtha found that the word “safety” appeared 194 times in the bill.

Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell has 30 days to decide whether to appeal the federal court decision. While Murtha barred the state from regulating safety at Vermont Yankee, the Public Service Board could still deny a certificate of public good to Entergy based on water quality or other issues.

Photo used under a Creative Commons license from Flickr user Paul Everett.