Vernon Officials Lobby For Yankee License Extension

AP Photo/Toby Talbot

Mike Ball, center, of the Vernon selectboard, is joined by other officials and citizens of Vernon for a news conference in Montpelier.

(Host) Officials from southern Vermont were in Montpelier on Tuesday to lobby for Vermont Yankee's license to be extended.

The nuclear power plant employs about 650 people, and pays about $1.2 million in taxes to the town of Vernon.

Mike Ball is chairman of the town select board. He says the decision on a 20-year license extension should be left up to the Public Service Board. He says Yankee is a good neighbor.

(Ball) "They provide stable income to the town, county, as well as to the state. The employees are active members in our community as well as in other communities. All we ask is that a technical review is allowed to be performed."

(Host) Former Governor Thomas Salmon is a Yankee supporter who lives in Rockingham. He says it makes no sense to shut down the nuclear plant.

(Salmon) "Why would we target for potential economic extinction the largest employer in our county, and one of the most significant employers in all of Vermont, at a time of desperate economic condition in this state and in this country. Why would we do this, I ask you?"

(Host) The Legislature has not set a date to vote on the relicensing question. The Public Service Board and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are also reviewing the license extension.