(Continuing the policy of promoting diaries from officeholders and officeseekers – promoted by odum)
On Friday, the Senate Finance Committee will be voting out a bill about Vermont Yankee’s future. This bill will come to the Senate Floor on Wednesday. The bill asks whether the Public Service Board can grant a Certificate of Public Good to Entergy to continue the operation of Vermont Yankee past its original license, which ends in March 2012.
I will be voting “No” when this bill comes to the floor. I am opposed to the continued operation of Vermont Yankee after the license expires.
Many have tried to reduce this question to a political argument. They say we need cheap power and Vermont Yankee provides jobs that we can’t afford to lose.
The “cheap power” has not been cheap, though — it has come at a great cost, in the form of tons of high-level radioactive nuclear waste stored on the banks of the Connecticut River. This waste will likely be Vermonters’ responsibility for decades to come. The recent tritium leaks have shown us that problems can occur — and tritium is a relatively minor problem compared with the issues that would be associated with spent fuel. Entergy has proven again and again that its profits come first and Vermonters come last.
In terms of the jobs, we must work to ensure a just transition for the workers at the plant. We should include the workers at Vermont Yankee in the discussions about how we transition to a clean energy future, and we should ensure that Vermont is working together with labor to provide retraining and new job opportunities for these workers. They are the front line at the plant with regard to our safety, and they deserve our best efforts to make sure they are not left behind when the plant shuts down.
That’s why my economic development platform includes focusing on Vermont’s strengths, including clean energy jobs, high-tech, and value-added agriculture processing.
Vermont needs a governor who will stand up for Vermonters and not for out-of-state corporate profits. I will be that governor. Vermont must have a clean energy future, and we must have good jobs for our people. This is not an either-or issue. We can have both.
I hope you will join me to move Vermont forward toward a brighter future for all of us.
We’ll need to work together to build a brighter future.
Well, it’s a good thing a “brighter future” starts eventually, I was under the impression things were glowing pretty bright already what with TRITIUM LEAKING EVERYWHERE. True leadership it would seem, comes after a campaign; during a campaign, no such luck – but things are getting brighter, don’t ya think?