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Call
for Vermont Town Meeting Votes to Counter Relentless Lobbying
of
Entergy Corp., the Owner of Vermont Yankee
Dear fellow concerned Vermonters,
Our Vermont legislature will make a momentous decision about
continued operation of Vermont Yankee sometime during the
coming legislative session beginning in January. Vermont is
the only state in the US whose legislature has the power to
prevent further operation of an aging nuclear power plant.
We want the legislature to use that power to close the plant
in 2012.
Entergy Corporation has already mounted a powerful lobbying
campaign. But with your help, citizens can counter those efforts
and make sure that the interests of Vermonters come before
those of the Entergy nuclear corporation. Grass-roots groups
are working hard to ensure that the voices and concerns of
Vermonters are being heard in Montpelier . Your voice is needed
now to help counterbalance the well financed and relentless
Entergy nuclear lobbyists.
Last year, as part of a state-wide grassroots effort to
let the legislature know how Vermonters feel, 36 Vermont town
meetings voted resoundingly to say forty years of Vermont
Yankee are enough. The resolutions these Vermont towns passed
asked the legislature not to grant approval for operation
of Vermont Yankee after 2012. The resolutions also asked the
legislature to hold the Entergy Corporation responsible to
fully fund the plant's clean-up and decommissioning when the
reactor closes, as the corporation pledged to do when it purchased
Vermont Yankee in 2002. These Vermont towns also put on record
that non-nuclear energy solutions are available for our state
that make sense, are possible, and will greatly increase our
safety and well being.
Town meeting votes provide a powerful way to counter Entergy
Corporation’s highly paid lobbyists. In March of 2010
Vermont towns again have the chance to consider whether Vermont
Yankee should get a 20 year extension. If your town has not
yet voted, please consider giving a bit of your time and join
with neighbors to help make your town's voice heard on this
vital issue. In our small state, our voices and our town meeting
votes do make a difference, and closing Vermont Yankee is
a cause worth working for.
Vermont Yankee is one of the oldest still-operating nuclear
power plants in the world. Its technology is not just obsolete.
It is unsafe. Demonstrating its own lack of confidence, Entergy
Corporation recently attempted to set up a separate limited
liability corporation to shield itself from liability. Entergy
Corporation is the company that allowed its subsidiary in
New Orleans to go bankrupt to save its corporate money after
Hurricane Katrina.
A coalition of groups is working to encourage more town
meeting votes in 2010. The coalition includes the Vermont
Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG), Citizens Action Network
(CAN), the Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance (VYDA),
Nuclear Free, the Sierra Club, and Toxics Action. The campaign
is being coordinated by Dan DeWalt , a former selectboard
member from Newfane VT. If you are interested in helping put
a town meeting vote on the warning in your town contact Dan
at patrioticresponse@yahoo.com
or through http://www.replaceVY.org
or by calling him at 348-7701 to see how you can get started.
Please don't let Entergy's corporate
lobbyists be the only voices our state representatives hear.
Thank you very much.
for a safe energy future,
People who have signed on to the letter so far:
(Organizations and descriptions are for identification purposes
only)
Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben and Jerry's
Ice Cream Company
Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben and Jerry's
Ice Cream Company
David Blittersdorf, founder of NRG Systems
in Hinesburg and CEO/President of Earth Turbines in Williston,
founding member and past chair of Renewable Energy
Vermont ( REV ), member of the Board of Advisors
for the University of Vermont Rubenstein School of Natural
Resources, the Vermont Manufacturing Extension Center (VMEC),
and the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Sheila and Jeffrey Hollender, Jeffrey is
Executive Chairperson of Seventh Generation.
Will Rapp, founder and former President of
Gardener's Supply Company in Burlington
Melinda Moulton, co-developer of Main Street
Landing in Burlington, Chair of VBSR Environmental, Energy,
and Transportation Policy Team
Michael Granger, real estate broker and founder
of Granger Real Estate in Newfane
Nancy Braus, owner, Everyones' Books, Brattleboro
Margo Baldwin, President and Publisher, Chelsea
Green Publishing, White River Jct.
Michael and Ellen Tenney, Brattleboro Books,
Brattleboro
Spence Putnam, consultant and adjunct professor,
Green Mountain College online MBA program in Sustainable Business,
former Executive Director, Vermont Business for Social Responsibility,
former General Manager of Danforth Pewterers in Middlebury,
Vermont, and former Vice President of Operations at the Vermont
Teddy Bear Company.
Beth Humstone, former Executive Director
of the Vermont Forum on Sprawl (now Smart Growth Vermont),
Director of U.S. Programs for the Institute for Sustainable
Communities, Chair of the Board of the Vermont Housing and
Conservation Trust Fund and President of the national Growth
Management Leadership Alliance.
Crea and Phil Lintilhac, officers of the
Lintilhac Foundation
Elizabeth Skarie, psychologist, board member,
Vermont Natural Resources Council
Elizabeth Courtney, Executive Director, Vermont
Natural Resources Council
James Moore, clean energy advocate, VPIRG
Paul Burns, Executive Director, VPIRG
Todd Bailey, Executive Director, Vermont
League of Conservation Voters
Jay Craven, film director and Professor of
Film Studies, Marlboro College
Bess O'Brien, screen writer, film producer,
and film director
Philip Baruth, novelist, commentator for
Vermont Public Radio, author of the Vermont Daily Briefing,
and Professor of English at the University of Vermont
Phil and Joan Hoff, Phil is the former Governor
of Vermont
Anthony Pollina, Progressive Party candidate
for Governor, 2008
Dan Dewalt, former selectboard member, Newfane
James Marc Leas, attorney, S. Burlington
Mary Sullivan, Burlington, Vermont
Todd Lockwood, Vermont writer/photographer
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