Committee objects to rules on nuke radiation

A committee of the Vermont Legislature is formally objecting to changes in rules by the Health Department that allow the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant to release more radiation into the environment.

Members of the legislature's administration rules committee say they're not objecting to the science behind the change. Rather, they are objecting to the Health Department's refusal to put the changes before the committee under the administrative procedures act.

Under the act, the Committee on Administrative Rules normally reviews changes to rules by state agencies.

The Health Department maintains it hasn't changed the rules, but merely its interpretation of them and doesn't need the committee's approval.