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New England Coalition News Release – Wednesday, May 4, 2011 2:15 PM
Coalition Bids to Enter Entergy vs Vermont Federal Preemption Fray Contact: NEC President (Retiring) Robert (Jake) Stewart – 802-276-3095 NEC President (Pro Tem) Ned Childs – 802-579-6601 (cell) NEC Tech. Advisor Raymond Shadis – 207-882-7801 207-380-5994 (cell)
New England Coalition announced Wednesday that it has filed a motion in the Federal District Court-District of Vermont seeking “leave to intervene” in the matter of Entergy Corporation’s lawsuit against the State of Vermont.
“NEC promised, at the time of the Senate vote not to approve relicensing of Vermont Yankee, to do all that it could to defend the state’s decision, should it ever be challenged in court,” said Coalition Advisor Raymond Shadis. ‘We are deeply concerned that Entergy seeks not only to undermine the authority of the legislature, but also the Vermont Public Service Board, to whom Entergy swore it would never invoke federal preemption. New England Coalition brings to this case the unique perspective of 40 years of citizen advocacy, and since Entergy’s purchase of Vermont Yankee more than 10 years of continuous litigation, on Vermont Yankee issues”
Unlike the Vermont Attorney General who represents Vermont citizens, NEC represents members in affected neighboring communities of New Hampshire and Massachusetts as well.
“NEC has a very important role to play in this litigation,” said Attorney Jared Margolis of Jericho, Vermont. Margolis, Attorney for the New England Coalition added, “NEC has provided testimony and arguments before the Public Service Board indicating that Vermont Yankee is a poorly managed and deteriorating nuclear power plant that cannot be reliably operated past 2012. NEC believes that its years of participation in these matters has led to an understanding by Vermont legislators and the public that the economic and land-use related risks of continued operation are too high to warrant relicensing. These are non-preempted grounds for the State finding that the continued operation of this plant is not in the public good, and the U.S. Supreme Court has held that the State does retain authority over these traditional State concerns. Entergy must not be allowed to eviscerate the State’s ability to protect the interests of Vermont.” The Federal District Court has scheduled a conference of the parties in Brattleboro tomorrow, Thursday, May 5th, though it is unlikely that NEC’s standing to intervene will be decided at that time. More details of may be read
in the complete copy of New England Coalition’s Motion to Intervene available
here:
END
NEC, organized and founded in 1971, is the region’s sole advocate for environmental and nuclear safety with intervenor status in the Entergy Vermont Yankee federal relicensing process, and is an intervenor in two open dockets before the Vermont Public Service Board Docket 7440 – Shall Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee receive a CPG for an additional 20 years of operation and less widely reported Docket 7600 – opened as a result of Entergy’s misinformation in Docket 7440, re: underground pipes and groundwater contamination.
New England Coalition is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. All contributions are tax-deductible. Donate at necnp.org using PayPal or send a check to NEC, PO Box 545, Brattleboro , VT 05302 www.necnp.org
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