Earth Equity News

Nuclear Industry Tries to Ride Roughshod Over Vermont Senate. By Harvey Wasserman, Common Dreams, March 16, 2010. "The nuclear power industry is sending a clear and forceful message to the citizens of Vermont: 'Drop Dead.' The greeting applies to Ohio, New York, California and a nation under assault from a 'renaissance' so far hyped with more than $640 million in corporate cash. The Vermont attack includes: 1) A direct threat to ignore the state Senate's 26-4 February vote against renewing the Yankee reactor's operating license. As a condition of buying Yankee, Entergy long-ago ceded to the legislature approval of any extension of an operating license, which expires in 2012. But Entergy now says it will spend all the corporate cash it needs to evict the current Senate and install one more to its liking. 2) Vermont's pro-nuclear Republican Governor Jim Douglas says the Senate's vote is 'meaningless.' Douglas is not running for re-election but is certain to become a high-priced Yankee arm-twister when he leaves office. 3) Entergy has also implied that if it fails to buy itself a pro-nuke legislature in 2010, it will sue over any denial of the license extension." Harvey Wasserman is senior advisor to Greenpeace USA and the Nuclear Information & Resource Service