Vermont Governor Jim Douglas on May 22 vetoed a bill that would have required Entergy Corporation of Louisiana to pay for decommissioning the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.
James Moore of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG) told the Rutland Herald that David Lamont, an expert from the Vermont Department of Public Service, swore under oath before regulators last month that the state would benefit from a bill like the one Douglas just vetoed. Lamont's boss is a Douglas appointee.
"The only way to be 100 percent assured that Entergy will bear the full costs of decommissioning is to have an assurance from the parent company that it will cover any shortfall in the fund," Lamont said. Entergy has estimated those costs at $909 million.
Tony Klein is chairman of the Vermont House's Natural Resources and Energy Committee. He told the Herald he was "saddened" by the veto.
Klein said he did not know whether the legislature would attempt to override the veto during its special session on the 2010 budget planned for early next month.
But the Legislature is planning to vote some time between January and May, 2010 on whether Yankee will be allowed to run after 2012. "And if we vote next year that the plant should not be allowed to operate beyond 2012, you can bet that we'll also have a bill requiring them to fund decommissioning," Klein said.
This article originally appeared at ValleyPost.org.
