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Fight seems poised to go on

MONTPELIER – The State Senate overwhelmingly voted Wednesday to close the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in 2012, although the legislative and legal battle over the troubled facility could be far from over.

Senators voted 26-4 against a bill that called for the troubled Vernon reactor to operate until the year 2032, sending a clear signal to Entergy, the owner of the plant, that they have lost the faith and trust of lawmakers.

That final vote saw several Republicans, normally the political base for Vermont Yankee, and all but two Democrats vote against allowing the 38-year-old plant to operate for another 20 years. It is believed to be the first time a state legislative body voted against the continued operation of a nuclear power plant.

"This was a brave and courageous vote," said Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, D-Windham County, a gubernatorial candidate. "An overwhelming number of senators said today that the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant should be closed as scheduled in 2012."

Revelations in recent months about tritium leaks at Vermont Yankee and allegations that Entergy executives misled state regulators about the existence of underground pipes – infrastructure now suspected of leaking tritium – clearly were on lawmakers' minds during the vote Wednesday.

Even last-minute pleas from Entergy – the company on Tuesday offered a limited-time block of cheap power to the state and on Wednesday announced their own internal investigation had found no wrongdoing on their part – appeared to have zero influence on lawmakers' final votes.

Sen. Randy Brock, R-Franklin, joked that if anti-nuclear activists had infiltrated Entergy's Board of Directors and management they couldn't even come close to doing the damage to Vermont Yankee's reputation that Entergy has over the last several months.

Still, it was with "deep unease" that Brock said he voted against the continued operation of the plant. Like many Republicans in that chamber, he felt the vote was rushed and politicized. Lawmakers needed more information, he said, before making such a monumental decision.

"I too will vote no based on what I know today," he said.

Process questions consumed much of the debate Wednesday. Sen. Phil Scott, R-Washington, a candidate for lieutenant governor, started the day by accusing Shumlin of miscounting votes in the Senate's Rules Committee, a process that allowed the Vermont Yankee bill to move from a committee to the floor for a vote.

Sen. Kevin Mullin, R-Rutland, said he voted no in an informal poll of that committee, but that Shumlin counted it as a yes vote. All three senators concluded that it was likely a misunderstanding, but it was a rocky kick-off to a controversial debate.

"I thought we understood each other clearly," Shumlin said. "If there was any misunderstanding, I apologize."

Senate Republicans made three attempts to either delay or change the Vermont Yankee bill, with each option receiving little support on the floor.

Scott offered a motion to send the bill to the Senate Appropriations Committee for more review and Mullin and Sen. Margaret "Peg" Flory, R-Rutland, offered amendments that would have allow relicensed under strict guidelines or to build a new nuclear power plant where Vermont Yankee is now located.

"This would give the Public Service Board the authority to continue collecting information and make a decision on relicensing," Flory said, referring to the amendment allowing for continued operation under certain criteria. "The Board could still determine that this isn't in the public's best interest."

But Sen. Doug Racine, D-Chittenden, a gubernatorial candidate, said the vote against Vermont Yankee sends a "powerful message" to Entergy, the utilities and the rest of the state that they are transitioning away from nuclear power in support of green energy.

"This is the beginning of a better energy future for the state of Vermont," Racine said. "And it will be one based on conservation, efficiency and renewable energy."

Some Senate Democrats did find the vote difficult to swallow. Sen. Hinda Miller, D-Chittenden, said she wanted to support Vermont Yankee, but that the state does not "have a believable partner" in Entergy.

Gov. James Douglas, a Republican who has supported Vermont Yankee, called the Senate vote a "predictable outcome." He said the vote was essentially meaningless because state law requires them to vote yes on the question to allow the Public Service Board, the quasi-judicial regulators, to proceed with the case.

"It doesn't change where we were this morning at all," Douglas said.

The Republican who hopes to replace Douglas, Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie, presided over the debate in the Senate. But after the final vote, he told reporters that the vote was ill-timed and aimed to assist the political aspirations of Shumlin, one of his likely opponents in the November general election.

Dubie said if he was a voting senator, he would have voted to allow Vermont Yankee to operate after 2012.

"The 650 employees at Vermont Yankee deserve better than this," he said.

Larry Smith, a spokesperson for Vermont Yankee, wrote in an e-mail to the media that battle over the plant's future was "far from over." He said the company was committed to finding the tritium leak and winning back the confidence of the state.

"The plant is a vital, safe and reliable source of clean power for Vermont and the rest of New England, and we will continue communicating to the public the substantial economic and environmental benefits of keeping the plant operating beyond 2012," Smith wrote.

Shumlin struck back at accusations that the vote was scheduled to further his gubernatorial campaign, pointing out a newspaper article from December 2009 where he was quoted as saying a vote on Vermont Yankee was likely this year.

"I have been consistent," he said. "I have done my job to the best of my ability."

A vast majority of the crowd at the Statehouse clearly supported shutting down the plant. By 8 a.m. that morning – hours before debate was scheduled to begin – activists opposed to nuclear power had filled up nearly all the available seating in the Senate chamber.

"With this vote today, Vermont has effectively turned the page from the dirty, dangerous and expensive energy sources of the past toward a truly clean energy future," said Paul Burns, the executive director of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, one of the organizations that rallied anti-nuclear activists to turn out for the vote. "The Senate reminded us that leadership means standing up for what's right."

But not all political observers cheered the vote. William Driscoll, the vice-president of Associated Industries of Vermont, said "working Vermonters and their families" will face the consequences of the Senate's decision.

"If Yankee is not relicensed, employers planning their future in Vermont can expect significant cost increases in replacing its power, utilities will be in a poorer position to negotiate favorable contracts with other providers even beyond replacing Yankee, and the state will be hit by the loss of a major employer," Driscoll wrote in an e-mail. "Senators will bear a heavy responsibility for their votes on this bill."

daniel.barlow@timesargus.com

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