For further information contact:
Dan Dewalt 348-7701
James Marc Leas 864-1575
20 year Vermont Yankee extension rejected by 15 more town meetings
With all 17 towns reporting, 15 passed the resolution asking the legislature to deny approval for Vermont Yankee to operate after 2012, one town voted against, and one town decided to table the resolution. The text of the resolution is below.
At least seven of the towns, Thetford, Brookfield, Montgomery, Mooretown, Cabot, Sharon, and Peacham passed the resolution with near unanimous votes
Danville and Woodstock passed it with a 2:1 majority, Jamaica with more than a 3:1 majority
Winooski passed the resolution by Australian ballot with more than a 2 to 1 majority (644-313) http://onioncity.com/
The only town voting down the resolution was Rockingham, and there the vote was 33-36
The towns voting this year were all different from the towns that voted last year. Adding the results from both years, a total of 51 towns voted to close Vermont Yankee in 2012 and only 3 towns voted down the resolution.
“The town meeting vote mirrors the Senate vote not only in voting down operation after 2012 but also in the size of the majority,” said Dan Dewalt. “A vast majority of Vermonters know Entergy cannot be trusted. Vermont Yankee is coming to its end, and we will be grateful if we safely decommission it in 2012.”
15 Towns voting yes in 2010 on resolution to close Vermont Yankee in 2012 (see text of model resolution below)
Woodstock (passed 20-11)
Thetford (passed 150-1)
Bristol (passed unanimously)
Fayston (brought up under other business, passed 54-12)
Brookfield near unanimous
Montgomery (unanimous 65+)
Moretown (near unanimous 50+)
amendment added to Moretown resolution:”Entergy shall fund the training of Yankee’s existing workers to build and maintain green energy production systems in Vermont to replace Yankee’s power.”
Waitsfield (first narrowly beat back motion to pass over, then on a voice vote passed by large margin with only a few votes against)
Danville (110-66)
Cabot (near unanimous)
Huntington (passed with an amendment)
Sharon (near unanimous)
Jamaica (55-16)
Peacham (near unanimous)
Winooski (Australian ballot result: 644-313) http://onioncity.com/
1 Town voting to pass over 2010 (table)
Cambridge (passed over)
0 towns voting to split the resolution and pass one or more of the three parts of the resolution
none yet
1 Town voting no in 2010
Rockingham 33-36
Rockingham voters legally warned the resolution, but the selectboard refused to accept it in the warning, so it was brought up as other business at 11:30PM on Sat. Consternation was expressed at it being brought up without being warned. The resolution failed by three votes.
Model resolution used in most towns:
Shall the voters of _________________request the Vermont legislature to:
1. Deny approval for the operation of Vermont Yankee after March of 2012, which marks the end of its 40 year design life.
2. Require that the Entergy Corporation of Louisiana fulfill its pledge to fully fund the cleanup and decommissioning costs of closing Vermont Yankee.
3. Seek safe, renewable,regional sources of electricity combined with efficiency and conservation measures to replace the power presently provided by Vermont Yankee.
The 2009 results were 36 yes, 2 no, 3 table, 3 split resolution passing one or two of the points (I can send town by town results from 2009 if wanted)
Altogether from town meeting votes in both 2009 and 2010:
36 + 15 = 51 towns voted yes
2 + 1 = 3 towns voted no
3 +1 = 4 towns passed over
0 + 3 = 3 towns split up the resolution and passed part
The towns that had the Vermont Yankee resolution on the warning for a vote this year are: Sharon, Thetford, Cabot, Danville, Peacham, Bristol, Jamaica, Winooski, Moretown, Huntington, Montgomery, Cambridge, Waitsfield, and Brookfield.
The towns that considered the resolution under other business are: Woodstock, Fayston, and Rockingham
