Letter Criticizes Douglas Veto

(The following is a Letter to the Editor)

Governor’s Veto of Nuclear Decommissioning Fund Naïve

Governor Douglas has vetoed S.373 the bill that mandated that Entergy put another $400,000,000 into the Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Fund.  Douglas stated that “It is naïve to think this cost will not be passed on to the consumer sometime in the future.” He is absolutely right and that is exactly why he should have signed the bill.

That might sound like a contradiction, but here is why it is not. Vermont residents and businesses are only around 50% of Entergy’s Vermont Yankee customers. If the cost of this decommissioning fund increase is passed on to the customers, Vermonters will get help from these out of state rate payers to foot the bill. If, on the other hand, the ownership of Vermont Yankee is allowed to pass to a limited liability company and to avoid bringing up the fund to the level shown to be necessary at other similar, recent decommissioning of nuclear power plants before its license expires, Vermonters will be footing the entire bill.

It is naïve to think that if Entergy is unwilling to cover the costs of decommissioning now while it is earning a profit from its operations it would suddenly be willing to come up with the funds when the plant is closed and now longer providing an income. The governor and any Vermont business owner should have been able to see that paying something more now would be better than paying much more in the near future.

It was the legislators of the Vermont Senate and House who got it right. Now they should come forward to make it right again. Come together to override this veto!

Betsy Eldredge, Secretary
SIERRA CLUB of the Upper Valley
(802) 885-4826
email: DRR@Dartmouth.edu