(This is big news.  In the interest of getting this up on the front page without overwhelming it, I have taken the liberty of creating a “fold” so our readers can get the full story when they click on “There’s more.” – promoted by Sue Prent)

In answer to Entergy’s request  for a delay in its proceedings the PSB had this to say: No.

Public service board denies decision delay on Yankee future

Mar 02, 2012 10:21 AM EST

By WCAX News

VERNON, Vt. – The Vermont Public Service Board has denied a request from the owners of Vermont Yankee to delay a decision on the future of the nuclear plant.

http://www.wcax.com/story/1706…

And:

Board Sets Own Pace On VY Future

Friday, 03/02/12 6:06am

The Vermont Public Service Board says it will set its own pace in deciding whether the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant gets a state permit to operate for another 20 years.

http://www.vpr.net/news_detail…

According to the Rutland Herald (paywalled):

PSB rejects Entergy’s request for delay

The Public Service Board has refused a request from Entergy Nuclear to delay its review of Yankee’s relicensing case.

Published: March 2, 2012

“The Public Service Board flatly refused a late-in-the-game request Thursday by Entergy that it step aside while the federal courts decide its role-if any-in the future of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant.”

http://rutlandherald.com/secti…

Too funny. Since the trial which ended in a favorable verdict for Entergy, Entergy has continued a bare-knucked attempt to inject its own will into the proceedings which follow by issuing play-by-play demands on how the proceedings should continue as well as the outcome solely to meet their own objectives rather than allowing the process to simply play itself out & trusting the PSB to make a fair decision.

First, Entergy stated after trial that they would not challenge Murtha’s decision to send it back to the VT PSB after he also ruled that their suit does not maintain that the resting of jurisdiction of PSB to grant or deny the CPG for continued operation is pre-empted. Entergy did in fact demand, er, request  the PSB to rule quickly on the open docket declaring no additional information is necessary to decide Vermont Yankee’s fate, clearly expecting a CPG to be issued without delay.  

Then, when PSB notified all parties of its intention to open the proceedings by scheduling a status conference on 3/09/2012 in the statehouse (interestingly across the street from the usual location of the PSB), also posing a few questions it asks parties to provide answers to:

emphasis mine

“The board is expecting answers to a long string of questions when the parties convene that day. Last week, the board asked the parties some thought-provoking questions, some of which may be summarized like this:

– Does the board still has authority to grant Vermont Yankee a certificate of public good, following the recent federal court ruling.

– If so, should the board rely on existing testimony or start over?

– Does Vermont Yankee plan to keep operating? If so, what are the operators going to do with the spent fuel it produces? Permission to store the fuel onsite expires March 21

– Does the board still has authority to grant Vermont Yankee a certificate of public good, following the recent federal court ruling.

– If so, should the board rely on existing testimony or start over?

– Does Vermont Yankee plan to keep operating? If so, what are the operators going to do with the spent fuel it produces? Permission to store the fuel onsite expires March 21.”

http://blogs.burlingtonfreepre…

According to the Herald story, Entergy also asked the PSB to “force” the other parties to file their responses to the questions posed prior to Entergy’s.

An about face & more filings followed. Irony behind the facts & reality of unexpected consequences was seemingly not lost on Entergy Louisiana’s legal team who, in its recent filing asked Judge Murtha to block any attempt to act on grounds of the expired nuclear waste storage permit:

“The company that owns the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant said Monday night it would appeal a federal judge’s order allowing the plant to stay open past its originally scheduled shutdown date, and asked the original judge to revisit his order and prevent the state from barring the future storage of spent nuclear fuel at the Vernon reactor.  

The moves by Entergy Corp. came in a series of legal filings with the U.S. District Court in Brattleboro, where Judge J. Garvan Murtha last month issued an order widely viewed as strongly in the company’s favor, and at the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, where the company gave notice it would appeal every aspect of Murtha’s order.

Entergy asked Murtha to issue an injunction against Vermont to bar it from trying to enforce state laws against the storage of high-level radioactive waste generated at the plant after March 21.”

http://blogs.burlingtonfreepre…

So now, it appears the request to “revisit” really means ‘decree by fiat’.

As with the leaking radioactive nuclear waste from the troubled plant, the smackdown  continues. Could that looming Mach 21 closure date from the 2002 MOU be the writing on the wall in what has become a real life David & Goliath saga? Stay tuned.