Editor’s note: This interview with Gov. Peter Shumlin was conducted by Tim McQuiston, editor of Vermont Business Magazine, and James Dwinell.
In his first interview as governor with Vermont Business Magazine, Peter Shumlin talks about why he ran for governor, the differences between being a governor and a legislator, his steadfast opposition to the renewed operation of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant and his hopes for renewable energy. He reiterated his stated position that the Vernon plant is old and leaking and should be decommissioned when its license expires in 2012.
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In Part 2 of the video he continues the discussion on renewable energy and he also discusses the public trust doctrine and how access to water will be handled and the business and economic implications of that. He also talks about his admiration for his predecessor Jim Douglas, and how they had only two major disagreements, one over marriage equality and the other over how the federal ARRA funds were spent. Otherwise, he said, they got a lot done together. Shumlin went on to say that at the end of the day, the governor must balance the budget. He said he remains opposed to raising broad-based taxes. He said that Vermonters are already over taxed and it would only harm Vermont’s revenue position to raise tax rates higher.
The interview was conducted Wednesday, March 30, by James Dwinell and Timothy McQuiston. Waiting to meet with the governor were officials from Entergy, owner of Vermont Yankee. Later that same afternoon Entergy and the Vermont Electric Cooperative, the state’s third largest electric company based in Johnson, announced a new proposed contract, which has yet to be finalized by VEC’s board, at $49 per megawatt hour for the first year of operation, starting in 2012 under a new, 20-year agreement. It includes a price-smoothing mechanism after the first year to protect both parties from wild fluctuations in the wholesale electric market.
By contrast, the deal the Vermont utilities, including Central Vermont Public Service, the state’s largest, and Green Mountain Power, the second largest, signed with Hydro-Quebec in January is for $58.07 per megawatt hour with a similar price-smoothing mechanism.
During the VBM interview, and anticipating that Entergy was going to inform the governor of a rate offer of some kind, he was asked if there was any price or deal, such as including funding renewable energy programs in Vermont, which would make the governor change his mind on Vermont Yankee.
Governor Shumlin said, “I don’t think we can be bought.”
