Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Harold L. Bailey of Hyde Park. He was a Republican member of the Vermont Legislature from 2002 to 2004.
Vermont Law School professor Donald Kreis makes two crucial points about the state of Vermont and its case against Vermont Yankee:
First, Gov. Peter Shumlin’s confident assertion of radical states’ rights regarding nuclear power plants is dead on arrival in federal court. The state accepted sovereign federal oversight in several key areas (including safety) when the plant was built. The state cannot persuasively argue before a federal court for expanding state powers now. That it might do so successfully three times – in district, appeals and supreme courts – strains credulity.
And really – do we want every state deciding for itself how a nuclear power plant should operate? Sure, we Vermonters like the idea of blazing our own trails, but consider what this concept really means when applied to the day-to-day running of a nuclear power plant.
When Shumlin learned in early August that one fish with radiation had been found in the Connecticut River, he immediately blamed Vermont Yankee and demanded new on-site testing. He did so, he admitted later, on “instinct” and not on science. In fact, his own scientists publicly disagreed with him, saying there is no reason to think the radiation in the fish even came from Vermont Yankee. That’s no way to run a railroad, much less a nuclear power plant.
It is a dangerous situation when politicians who don’t understand nuclear or environmental science can tell a nuclear power plant how to operate.”
It is a dangerous situation when politicians who don’t understand nuclear or environmental science can tell a nuclear power plant how to operate. Yet that is exactly the direction Vermont government is heading, unless enough people (including his better-trained subordinates) are able to convince our chief executive to rely on scientific fact and not instinct. In many ways, this has been Vermont Yankee’s public relations problem all along: ill-informed people in positions of influence reacting in fear and without regard for collecting all of the facts. There is something I really would fear — if Shumlin got his way and suddenly all of the states had operational authority over their nuclear power plants? Political appointees would either be too hard on the licensee, or too easy, and certainly too uninformed and partisan, to ensure appropriate levels of safety.
No, we are better off letting the professionals at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission do their job. They may not be perfect, but they have a strong track record and are the best option.
Second, Kreis accurately discounts the state’s claim that safety was not a consideration when the Senate voted for closure. In fact he compares this notion to Ptolemy’s dogmatic assertion that the Earth is the center of the universe. Galileo said something like the truth is the truth regardless of what the bishops say, and that sentiment applies to the modern-day priesthood of lawyers and paid experts, as well. The Vermont Senate has been hoisted on its own petard. Like it or not, safety enforcement belongs to the federal government — only. It’s really pretty simple, and I appreciate Kreis driving that point home.
The more I read, the weaker Vermont’s case looks. I think more and more Vermonters want the state of Vermont to save taxpayer money, avoid the worst-case scenario of a loss in which we lose leverage over decommissioning and reach a settlement that recognizes judicial reality.
