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Keeping your community covered. We're committed to producing high-quality, fact-based news and information that gives you the facts in this community we call home. If our work has helped you stay informed, take action, or feel more connected to Windham County – please give now to help us reach our goal of raising $150,000 by December 31st.
Having already pursued regulatory appeals and court action, Vermont officials are trying another tactic to limit usage of the Vermont Yankee decommissioning trust fund.
The state attorney general and Public Service Department on Nov. 6 announced a new petition asking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to undertake a “robust, comprehensive and participatory review” of various trust-fund uses planned by Entergy, the Vernon nuclear plant's owner.
“Considered together, Entergy's actions threaten to undermine the radiological decommissioning work that is the very purpose of the fund,” the document says. “Unless the commission intervenes, Entergy will divert hundreds of millions of dollars from their intended purpose.”
Entergy ceased producing power at Vermont Yankee at the end of 2014 and has been withdrawing cash from the plant's decommissioning trust fund throughout 2015. The plant is headed into a period of extended dormancy called SAFSTOR, under which decommissioning can take up to 60 years. The actual timing of the job depends on the trust fund's growth.
Over the objections of town officials, the state has approved construction of a new AT&T cellular tower designed to improve service in the Interstate 91 corridor and other areas. The Vermont Public Service Board issued a certificate of public good to AT&T Mobility and Blue Sky Towers LLC to...
Since early 2012, the historic Scott Covered Bridge has been considered so dangerous that even pedestrians have been barred from crossing. That's about to change. A contractor is starting a nearly $2.2 million, 14-month rehabilitation project designed to restore pedestrian access and ensure long-term preservation of the 145-year-old bridge,
Less than seven months after Vermont Yankee ceased producing power, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's resident inspector office at the plant went dark. But even after pulling its inspectors from the Vernon facility, the NRC pledged that “periodic and targeted” monitoring would continue. Proof of that is in the NRC's newest inspection report, a product of visiting decommissioning specialists poring over details, including operations of Vermont Yankee's spent fuel pool, plans for a massive water-storage facility, and the proposed design of...
Nine months ago, state officials demanded that the federal government “fully investigate” Vermont Yankee owner Entergy in order to determine whether the company “has sufficient financial capacity” to decommission the Vernon plant. On Oct. 27, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) delivered its response, which could be paraphrased this way: Thanks for the suggestion, but we've got this under control. In a letter to the state, an NRC official reiterated that the agency already has determined that Entergy will have...
Entergy plans to dip into the Vermont Yankee decommissioning trust fund to pay a $1.2 million property tax bill, exacerbating tensions with Vermont officials who strongly oppose such a withdrawal. In complying with a new federal mandate to provide more detail in its trust-fund notices, Entergy announced on Oct. 27 that the company will take up to $6.6 million from the fund for expenses at the shuttered nuclear plant including emergency planning, insurance, and property taxes. Entergy Vermont Yankee spokesman...
A solar array proposed for Brattleboro's closed landfill - an installation that would be Vermont's largest by current standards - could lead to a big payoff for Windham County municipalities. Windham Solid Waste Management District (WSWMD) officials have been working for years to develop an array at the Old Ferry Road landfill, and 2014 state legislation opened the door for a 5 megawatt, net-metered installation here. Now, a few months after choosing a developer for the job, officials say estimates...
The owner of The Hermitage Club must pay more than $72,700 for damaging three miles of trail in the Green Mountain National Forest. The U.S. Attorney's office in Vermont said James Barnes of Wilmington has agreed to pay $25,000 in civil fines and $47,761 in restitution for ordering work on a portion of the Deerfield Ridge Trail in November 2012. In addition to the fact that the project was unauthorized, federal officials said the work “was not done to professional...
