VY tritium leak solved

Read the official press release from Vermont Yankee.

Download News Release VY Tritium Investigation

- Dan Barlow

Big day for Entergy

Vermont Yankee officials are announcing this morning the results of their tritium investigation and plans for site clean-up. Rutland Herald reporter Susan Smallheer is on site in Vernon for that meeting and we'll have info later on today on what happened.

Entergy officials are also appearing before the New York Public Service Commission today to appeal for its Enexus spin-off plans. That panel seems still unconvinced of the benefits.

Meanwhile, Smallheer also has a story in today's papers about the top Nuclear Regulatory Commission official overseeing Vermont Yankee being a ... former Entergy employee.

- Dan Barlow

VTA makes the bid for Google's fiber network

Brian Dubie leads the pack

A new poll on Vermont politics from Rasmussen is out and the findings are not good for the five Democrats running for the top job.

Republican Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie beats them all.

Here's the match-ups:

Dubie vs Secretary of State Deb Markowitz: 46% to 39%

Dubie vs. Sen. Doug Racine: 48% to 35%

Dubie vs. Senate President Peter Shumlin: 51% to 33%

Dubie vs. Former Sen. Matt Dunne: 51% to 29%

Dubie vs. Sen. Susan Bartlett: 52% to 26%

It seems Dubie has a benchmark of around 46 percent support - creating quite a wall for Democrats to climb if they want to win this race. And those numbers are just awful for Shumlin, Dunne and Bartlett. Markowitz, the only one within single digits to Dubie, seems to have the best chance right now.

But this seems to be Dubie's race to lose.

- Dan Barlow

U.S. support for nuclear power: 62%

 
Throughout Gallup's years of polling on this issue, a majority of U.S. residents have always supported nuclear power. But this latest poll shows an all-time high of 62 percent.

I wonder how different a poll of Vermonters might be - especially this year, given the long list of problems at Vermont Yankee. Would it be flipped? Would 33 percent support nuclear power and the rest of Vermonters oppose? Or would it be closer to the U.S. average?

If you have any thoughts on the topic, comments are open.

- Dan Barlow

Read Tom Salmon's letter to Peter Welch

State Auditor Tom Salmon sent a last-minute letter to U.S. Rep. Peter Welch on Sunday urging him not to vote for the health care bill. Read it below.

Download Welch Letter

- Dan Barlow

O'Brien offers "unwavering" support for VY

David O'Brien, the commissioner of the Vermont Department of Public Service, told a group of Rutland Republicans why he still supports Vermont Yankee during a fundraiser Saturday.

"Vermont Yankee, as a unit, which you won't read about anymore, is one of the best-performing nuclear units in the country," he said, adding that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has told him it has no problem with the plant.

He also calls out Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin - a 2010 gubernatorial candidate for the Democrats - for allegedly taking advantage of a "poisonous atmosphere."

- Dan Barlow

 

Health care reactions ...

... from Vermont's blogosphere.

At best it ameliorates the worst abuses of the private insurance companies and makes sure 95% of Americans would be covered with or without subsidies. At worst it's a huge dump of public funds to private business with a mandate that everyone must buy coverage.

- NanuqFC at Green Mountain Daily

The liberals' panicked, reckless race to an unprecedented power grab has permanently exposed their flag draped scam to socialize America.

- Jack Harding at Vermont Tiger

- Dan Barlow

Seven Days tries to have it both ways

So, either Seven Days' survey of Statehouse lawmakers and staff for "winners" of categories such as "most ethically challenged" and "best looking" was a solid piece of reporting worthy of the Burlington newspapers' front page and five pages of coverage inside.

Or, it was a failed experiment, a piece of puff full of "dubious categories" that suffered from a "low response rate."

But the paper can't have it both ways. And they can't honestly be shocked that the Republican Governors Association used their survey to attack Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, a 2010 Democratic gubernatorial candidate.

In light of this news, Seven Days took to their blog to, uh, defend (I guess?) their survey. And they also to downplay its significance.

Are you as confused as I am?

- Dan Barlow

RGA uses Seven Days' survey against Shumlin

Well that didn't take long.

On Wednesday, Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin - a 2010 Democratic gubernatorial candidate - was named "most ethically challenged" in a survey of Statehouse lawmakers and staff by Seven Days, the weekly Burlington newspaper.

Today, the Republican Governors Association - the national GOP group supporting Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie's bid for the job of Vermont governor - sent out a press release using that finding to slam Shumlin.

Here's what they had to say:

Yesterday we drew your attention to a story in which several people accused Sen. Peter Shumlin of being misleading when talking about Vermont Yankee, and today we bring you the results of a survey conducted by Seven Days, in which his own peers voted him “Most Ethically Challenged.”

What the RGA neglects to mention is that only 30 people responded to the survey. And only 12 people voted for Shumlin in this category. That's hardly a referendum.