http://www.clf.org/advocacy/Vermont_Yankee_epilogue.htmOn August 1st, the keys to Vermont's only nuclear plant were handed to Entergy Corporation, ending a three year saga by Vermont's utilities to sell the aging Vermont Yankee facility.
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First, the Board agreed with CLF that the Vermont utilities should receive no upfront rate guarantees for the Entergy power contract. That is, if, as CLF predicts, the Entergy power contract proves to be too expensive as compared to market power, utility shareholders must share in paying for the added power costs. As a result, ratepayers will not be stuck with the entire tab through even higher electric rates due to the Entergy contract.
Second, the power contract was changed in a fundamental way to ensure that the plant is exposed to the competitive wholesale energy market beginning in 2005. CLF has been a leading champion of restructuring the regional energy market, because competition, if done right, will remove ratepayer subsidies for expensive nuclear and dirty coal plants. Already, restructuring in New England has resulted in the closure of several old nukes and fossil fuel plants, and their replacement with cleaner, safer, more efficient, gas turbines and emerging renewable technologies. Threatening this trend, the sale of Vermont Yankee represented a dangerous precedent, with the sale of nukes now coupled with captive ratepayer subsidies such as the Entergy power contract. In fact, the Entergy power contract could have resulted in the exact opposite of what selling the plant was intended to achieve - competition, consumer choice, and lower electric rates.
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A third sale condition insures that Vermonters will have a major voice in future decisions whether to extend the life of Vermont Yankee after 2012 (when the current license expires). Entergy has stated unequivocally that it will try to extend Vermont Yankee's license by 20 years (until 2032). Under federal law, this post-sale decision would have been solely in the hands of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission at a time when the Bush Administration is bullish on reviving the nuclear industry. State regulators would largely be bystanders. However, here again, CLF objected, and joined the Dean Administration in demanding that the sale only go forward if Entergy agreed to give the state veto authority over license extension decisions. In the end, Entergy agreed to cede to local control rather than risk losing the sale.
A fourth condition recommended by CLF should ensure safe and thorough decommissioning of the plant. Entergy hoped to earn a windfall on the multi-million dollar decommissioning trust fund, by delaying plant retirement, allowing the fund to grow by investment returns, meeting only the minimum NRC safety standards, and pocketing excess trust monies. CLF objected, and again the Board listened. The Board's final approval requires Entergy to return all excess decommissioning funds to Vermont ratepayers, ensuring that Entergy has no incentive to cut corners on eventual nuclear clean up.
Despite these successes, CLF did not get everything that we wanted. During the hearings, CLF insisted that a portion of the $180 million sale proceeds be used to create a renewable energy investment fund. Such a fund would give Vermont a fighting chance to replace its nuclear dependence with renewable energy. After all, we argued, why should the utilities pocket the money, when they were willing to sell Yankee at a fraction of the price? Here state regulators proved a disappointment, buckling under to political pressure from the in-state utilities, and saying no to immediate establishment of a renewable fund. However, the Board did signal its intention to require the Vermont utilities to create a meaningful renewables agenda without delay. First, the Board ruled that future Yankee-related revenues that the Vermont utilities may receive (from spend fuel damages and returns on the nuclear insurance policy) should be used to create a renewable investment fund. Second, the Board intends to establish an investigation into how CLF's renewable fund recommendations can be achieved by the utilities, independent of the Yankee sale.
In the end, the sale of Vermont Yankee should ensure a brighter energy future for Vermont and the region, and tilt the balance away from nuclear power, thanks to CLF's yeoman efforts over the last three years.:end snip:
Sounds to me that everything worked out fine. Unfortunately, some here don't want things to be fine unless their candidate wins. I can't understand trying to trash a good Democrat with lies when there's a bush* in the whitehouse.
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