( – promoted by BP)

Legacy & print media do not usually venture into the blogsphere outside of their own publications, especially not to criticize & call out a blogger for what amounts to character assasination. Citizen journalism, bloggers & online publication seem to be viewed as a different breed of cat.

That said, I was quite stunned to open the Reformer this morning to a riveting editorial, no doubt, doing just that:

Shooting the messenger

Wednesday March 2, 2011

“If you can’t refute the message then try to discredit the messenger. That’s the tactic several Vermont Yankee advocates have taken to impugn the character and devalue the experience of Arnie Gundersen, a nuclear safety advocate who has been highly critical of the operation of the nuclear power plant in Vernon.”

http://www.reformer.com/reform…  

Apparently, the blogger of Atomic Insights made false statements concerning Vermont Yankee Public Oversight Panel member & VY critic Arnie Gundersen, claiming his resume is overblown plus other character assaults, and, due to this, not qualified to criticize Entergy or other nuclear professionals:

“My point in providing these details is to illustrate the inconsistency involved in having a man who is prone to inflate and exaggerate the facts about his own career experience repetitively speaking about the job performance and alleged lack of integrity of hundreds of qualified professionals whose production gets measured and evaluated every day by some very demanding inspectors.”

This was based primarily on a statement made by an unamed source:

 – “I think he exaggerated his responsibilities for projects at NU, 1972-6.”

http://atomicinsights.blogspot…

How he dared even go there after Howard Shaffer’s claim to state of VT that Mr. Gundersen is not a nuclear engineer & should not be allowed to make the claim failed so miserably is curious.

Anyone who has watched the ongoing debate over continued operation of Entergy Louisiana-owned Vermont Yankee & related events unfold, has witnessed an astonishing display of disinformation. Information dispensed by those who support continued operation has been inaccurate & misleading in their description of the issue & related issues. It has been an eye opener to say the very least.

Pronuclear bloggers particularly & other supporters, without exception have been typically less than accurate at best & more often, completely untruthful. Witness the Entergy Louisiana ‘VT4VY’ fearmongering campaign in which VT business supporters of VY are claiming they will not be able to stay in VT if VY is closed on schedule as electric rates will be unaffordable, when this has been proven to be false. VT electric utilities did not approve the PPA from Enexus because they could not guarantee the price would be affordable & has yet to do so. One of them, Stoweflake Resort owner does not even use power produced by VY. Butch Cersosimo reportedly uses a diesel generator to power his chip plant in Vernon. The IBM-is-leaving scare tactic continues to resurface.

Entergy & supporters have laid the blame for all of their woes upon lawmakers, those tasked with oversight & VT media, especially newspapers, claiming the issue has been overblown & inaccurately reported.  

Nice to see at least one VT newspaper tackling this ongoing issue by taking on irresponsible & untrue comments published by bringing it into the forefront.