Last year I issued two white papers regarding my concerns with Vermont Yankee’s Decommissioning Fund and the Fund Gap between the monies available and the actual cost of decommissioning.

Now today, the status of Entergy’s Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Fund since the Wall Street Meltdown were finally released.  As of September 30, 2008, ENVY’s Decommissioning Fund contains $397,035,937, which is the 2006 level of an already paltry fund.

According to the Vermont State Auditor, the Fund had been reported by DPS as delineated below:

Date                                         Amount in the Trust Fund

July 2002                                            $304,000,000

Dec 31, 2003                                       $352,718,739

Dec 31, 2004                                       $372,800,000

Sept 30, 2005                                      $380,078,031

March 31, 2006                                   $391,882,501

Sept 30, 2006                                      $402,410,980

Dec 31, 2006                                       $416,715,821

Dec. 31, 2007                                      $439,570,000

June 30, 2008                                      $413,200,000 (est)

September 30, 2008                          $397,035,937

DPS earlier reported that the funds were invested in:  Delaware Qualified Fund, Mellon Qualified Fund, Duff & Phelps Qualified Fund, Mellon NQ, Mellon MCF -NQ and Delaware NQ.

One of my concerns was that DPS reported that the rate of return from July 2002 into 2007 was about 6.75%.  In its analysis Entergy applied a growth rate of 5.54%.  [Please note that the NRC uses 5% as its cap.  I’m still wondering how that one gets by the NRC!]

Using the 5.54% growth rate noted above applied to the 12/31/2007 market valuation, the Fund would have been expected to be at approximately $464 million at Dec. 31, 2008.

It is sadly short of that figure.  The actual letter from attorneys is below the fold.  More to come from me tomorrow and Friday.

October 7,2008

Sarah D. Hofmann, Esq.

Vennont Department of Public Service

Drawer 20, 112 State Street

Montpelier, VT 05620-2601

SUBJ: Decommissioning Trust Fund for the Vennont Yankee Nuclear Power Station (the “Fund”)

Dear Sarah:

On behalf of Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC, and Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.

(together, “Entergy VY”), this letter responds to the Department of Public Service’s (the

“Department”) request for information dated September 26, 2008 (the “Information Request”),

pursuant to 30 V.S.A. 5 206, asking Entergy VY to provide “the total market value figure for the

Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Trust Fund as of close of business on September 18,2008

and September 25, 2008.”

Following our receipt of that request, I left you a voicemail message in which I informed you

that Entergy VY does not have information that would enable it to calculate the total market

value of the Fund on those two dates without requesting and incurring the expense for a special

valuation.’ I also informed you that Entergy VY receives reports stating the total market-value

figure for the Fund monthly, that the closest date to the dates requested would be September 30,

2008, and that Entergy VY would not have the information for that date until several business

days following September 30, 2008. You left me a voicemail message indicating that the

Department would accept, as responsive to the Information Request, the total market-value

figure for the Fund as of September 30,2008.

Entergy VY accordingly responds to the Information Request as follows: As of September 30,

2008, the market value for the Fund was $397,035,937.

Let us know if the Department requires information additional to the information from Entergy

VY provided by this letter.

Very truly yours,

DOWNS RACHLIN MARTIN PLLC

Attorneys for Entergy Vermont Yankee, LLC.

PS – I will not be responding to questions tonight, not because I do not want to, but because as a Burlington Public Works Commissioner, I will be in a meeting all evening.  More to come from me tomorrow and Friday.

…questions Tuesday. Don’t forget Gov. Douglas’s  Commissioner O’Brian recently sent a sternly worded letter to the NRC suggesting they find out more about these leaks as it is “unacceptable “.Maybe they can prove it’s not just an election season ploy with some follow-up action.But we all know they are “pretty darned careful”

BRATTLEBORO – Federal regulators will hold a public meeting next week to discuss the condition of Vermont Yankee’s cooling towers, after more leaks were discovered in recent months.

Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said NRC and plant officials will be available to answer questions at Tuesday’s meeting at the Latchis Theater in Brattleboro.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress…

A little late for April Fools, so I guess he means it (emphasis added):

(Kinzel) Several years ago, President Bush unveiled a plan to allow workers to divert some of their Social Security tax payments to a private investment fund. Governor Jim Douglas says he liked the proposal then and he likes it now.

Douglas says many people view Social Security as part of their comprehensive retirement package and he says individuals should be allowed to decide how to invest some of their tax payments.

(Douglas) “I think the American people are a lot smarter than some give them credit for. So, I think that some kind of combination is reasonable. A voluntary option for the American people to have what’s called a defined contribution plan for a portion of their retirement funds is a reasonable one. I’ve been encouraging that at the state level, as well.”

Yeah, that would’ve worked out well if we’d gone that route. And the people who would’ve lost their social security in the current meltdown – exactly how would the Governor be handling them, now?

On the other hand, such a program may cause enough fatal heart attacks that it could ultimately limit the amount of benefits that have to be paid out.

Putting aside the policy no-brainer, this statement draws a direct line between the current incarnation of Jim Douglas – a supposedly moderate Rupublican – and the hard right politician we saw while he was in the Legislature so long ago. It should be a reminder that he’s every bit the right winger that he was then, and that he’s enough of an ideologue to refuse to question his hard-right doctrine, even in the face of the stone cold reality of what a terrible policy that would have been before, and would be in the future.

The whole point of Social Security is the “security”, after all.

This debate is like a train wreck I can’t look away from. Now I think Obama is doing fine, its just that this whole process is beginning to make me feel like reaching into my brain and pulling my head inside out. That and the neon red carpet is making me wince.

So if, like me, you need something else to think about, here’s something a co-worker brought to my attention. Sarah Silverman promoting “The Great Schlep,” described by the LA Times as:

The Jewish Council for Education and Research — a new pro-Obama political action committee — is organizing “The Great Schlep,” in which hundreds of Jews will make the Southern exodus on Columbus Day weekend, Oct. 10-13. They will travel to the Fort Lauderdale area, where they will visit their grandparents, organize political salons in their condos and eat incredibly bad food…

…Barack Obama’s trouble winning over older Jewish voters has been difficult for pollsters to explain, so I came here this week to visit my grandmother, Mama Ann, and find out what the hang-up is.

Now, I was raised a Catholic boy in Kentucky, so I ain’t the target audience, but this hit my co-worker right where he lives (or rather, where his grandparents do, I guess…)