Entergy Corp. asked the Vermont Public Service Board on Tuesday for a 20-year license extension for the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant effective immediately.
The four-page motion asks for an amended or renewed certificate of public good to allow the plant to continue operating beyond March 21, when its 40-year license is set to expire.
The motion comes on the heels of a federal district court decision issued Jan. 19 in which Judge J. Garvan Murtha invalidated Vermont Act 160, which mandated legislative approval before the Public Service Board could issue a certificate of public good for the company to continue operating.
The board put the docket on hold when the state Senate denied Entergy permission to seek a certificate of public good in February 2010.
After the recent court decision, all eyes have been on the Public Service Board, awaiting the next step in the ongoing game of chess between the state and Entergy.
The filing comes as the state mulls whether it will appeal Judge Murtha’s decision to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
The case, Entergy’s attorneys argue, has been fully litigated before the Public Service Board with final briefs filed in the docket in 2009.
Also Tuesday, during the Entergy Corporation Fourth Quarter 2011 Earnings Release Conference Call, Entergy CEO J. Wayne Leonard addressed the Vermont proceedings.
Leonard said that over the last few years, the company has seen “nearly constant Entergy bashing in Vermont” attacking the company’s integrity and trustworthiness.
The company has chosen not to engage those attacks in the media, Leonard said.
Leonard announced that Entergy believes it can continue operating based on Judge Murtha’s decision.
“With the judge finding there’s no nuclear safety or power contract issues that can be the basis for the denial, we believe there is nothing standing in the way of issuing the CPG,” Leonard said. “We believe the evidence is complete and supports the decision to allow continued operation.”
Entergy also filed a notice of appearance for attorney Kathleen Sullivan, former dean of Stanford Law School, who represented the company in its successful lawsuit against the state in district court.
Elizabeth Miller, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Public Service, said the department is reviewing Entergy’s filing but was not definite about timing for filing a response.
On Jan. 25, the department requested that the Public Service Board schedule a prehearing conference after Feb. 24 when the state will have made a decision regarding an appeal to the Second Circuit.
The department’s filing notes that Murtha’s opinion “expressly does not prohibit the Board from determining the question of renewal of the Certificate of Public Good held by Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee in a manner consistent with the decision.”
The board has broad discretion to determine whether to issue a certificate of public good to a business that operates under its jurisdiction. According to board precedent, it may consider things like business reputation and “tailor conditions appropriate to the planned activities of the petitioner.”
The filing spawned quick criticism from those who want to see the plant shuttered.
The New England Coalition issued a press release claiming a decision to allow Entergy to continue operating would not be based on new evidence that has emerged since 2009. The coalition states that too many things have changed since the previous filings that the board needs to take a fresh look.
“The entire case, including Entergy’s false testimony about underground piping, needs to be reconstituted before a legally-supportable decision can be cast,” the release states.
Sandra Levine, senior attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation in Vermont, called the motion “premature.”
In an e-mail to VTDigger.org, Levine wrote that the motion “is contrary to the court’s order and ignores facts that are important for the Board to hear.”
Most notable, Levine points out, is the false information Entergy provided to regulators regarding a tritium leak at the Vermont Yankee facility.
“Entergy’s lack of trustworthiness cannot be ignored,” Levine says. “It is an important matter that has bearing on whether Entergy should be allowed to continue to operate Vermont Yankee.”
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entergy will probably win this one too, then close the plant and we will get shafted with the clean-up bill like they wanted to do all along. Then they can put up nuke plants wherever the hell they want and the jurisdiction, the state, cannot do anything about it.
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How can it be for the public good if they refuse to test the well water for radio active isotopes? Entergy is being disingenuous asking Vermont for the CPG.
The State of Vermont has the right to deny the CPG to Entergy.
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Leonard said that over the last few years, the company has seen “nearly constant Entergy bashing in Vermont” attacking the company’s integrity and trustworthiness.
Really? Well we should all be grateful that this man who heads up one of the worst run corporations in America recognizes that Vermonters have a low tolerance for ba actors.
Of course, Vermont has been constantly bashing Entergy for its lack of integrity and trustworthiness , because they have no integrity and they are not trustworthy. What else would Leonard expect?
Oh right, he fully expects our PSB to simply roll over and issue a CPG without any additional evidence and/or testimony or any discussion of the fact that Entergy officials have previously lied to the PSB.
There is no reason for the PSB to issue a CPG to this company. We are not buying any power from them. They will be leaving Vermont with a contaminated site. They are over-heating our river, and they are untrustworthy. These should be more than enough reasons to deny a CPG to this rogue corporation.
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” There is no reason for the PSB to issue a CPG to this company. We are not buying any power from them. They will be leaving Vermont with a contaminated site.”
Thanks, Bob, you’re right. But Entergy is a big corporation with lots of clout, so the Psb probably will issue that certificate. Sadly, I’m not expecting them to do deny it, though sincerely hope that they do. We the people will be the ones that will have to shut this accursed plant down.
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Such a tangled web…the entire energy system we depend upon is literally killing us. From the fracking to the spent nuclear fuel to the wasteful use of oil…how did it get this way? It seems that airheads float to the top.
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