Dive Summary:
- The U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan, N.Y. ruled on Wednesday that the state of Vermont does not have the power to shutdown Entergy Corp.'s Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, confirming the U.S. District Court's ruling on the matter.
- State lawmakers enacted legislation in 2005 to give Vermont the power to deny licenses to operate nuclear reactors due to safety concerns. Entergy sued the state's Governor, Attorney General and Public Service Board in 2011, arguing that only the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has that power.
- However, Vermont did achieve a partial reversal of the decision. Reuters reports that the court "vacated an injunction preventing Vermont from conditioning issuing a certificate for the Vermont Yankee plant to operate on the execution of a favorable power purchase agreement."
From the article:
Vermont “attempts to thwart the federal statutory scheme that places the radiological safety of nuclear power generation exclusively in the hands of the federal government,” Entergy said in its brief to the appeals court.
Vermont countered that nuclear plants present health hazards other than radiation, against which the state has the right to protect its citizens. Those hazards include stormwater runoff, thermal discharges to rivers and the potential release of diesel fuel and other pollutants.