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.
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.
U.S. Rep. Peter Welch is again demanding that Vermont residents and officials have more of a say in the decommissioning of Vermont Yankee.
In a letter sent Oct. 14 to the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the state's Democratic congressman complained that “the lack of meaningful stakeholder participation in decisions related to Vermont Yankee's decommissioning is unacceptable.”
“It is essential that Vermonters have a seat at the table throughout this process,” Welch wrote. “The NRC has failed to substantively engage state and local officials and appears to be increasingly relying on the perspective of the nuclear energy industry.”
The letter is a follow-up to Welch's questioning of NRC commissioners during a September hearing in Washington.
Armed with $1.6 million in grant funding, clean-energy advocates are extolling the benefits of converting Windham County's schools and municipal buildings to “advanced” wood heat. So far, they've had a fairly receptive audience: 15 educational and governmental entities have signed agreements to have their buildings assessed for wood heat,
When describing the Vermont Chamber of Commerce's lobbying efforts, Betsy Bishop employs the standard devices - pie charts, anecdotes, and a few “offense” and “defense” football analogies. But the chamber's president also has a relatively new tool, and it's got no pictures or brightly colored graphs. Instead, it's a...
The town's first large-scale solar array has received state approval, but it might be hard to find even when construction is complete. In granting a certificate of public good for a 500 kilowatt, group net-metered solar facility on former agricultural land, the state Public Service Board noted that the array “would have limited visibility from public viewpoints” and “would be substantially shielded by the existing vegetation and topography.” That relative seclusion was a big reason that the site, at 1600...
For years, opponents of a wind-turbine development proposed in Windham and Grafton have complained that they've not gotten much solid information about the project. That might change later this month, as a developer and landowner involved in the Stiles Brook proposal have teamed up to schedule public meetings in both towns. The sessions are to include discussion of a “preliminary draft study layout,” meaning that, for the first time, developer Iberdrola Renewables will show where windmills might be sited. The...
Entergy's plan to manage Vermont Yankee's spent nuclear fuel is “adequate” and consistent with federal rules, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has decided. In approving Entergy's long-term fuel plan Oct. 5, the NRC also reaffirmed its endorsement for the company's controversial proposal to use the Vernon plant's decommissioning trust fund to manage that fuel. Fuel management is expected to cost $368 million at Yankee, but the NRC says Entergy “has demonstrated reasonable assurance that funding will be available to maintain the...
Creamy goat-milk caramels have become a big business for Townshend's Big Picture Farm. And as the farm underwent a recent expansion, a $20,000 state Working Lands grant played a key role: The money was, Big Picture co-founder Lucas Farrell said, a “game-changer.” “The Working Lands grant is as direct and effective an investment in the health of our local economy and working landscape as you're likely to find anywhere, period,” Farrell said. But even after three successful, high-demand years, Working...
State officials are demanding more-detailed information about how Vermont Yankee owner Entergy is spending cash from the nuclear plant's decommissioning trust fund. In documents filed Oct. 2, Vermont asked the federal Atomic Safety and Licensing Board to require the company to “provide the state all supporting documentation for specific expenses” from the trust fund - a request that applies both to past and future expenditures. Last month, Entergy agreed to continue providing notices to the federal government 30 days before...
