Vermont Yankee Owner Appeals To Public In Newspaper Ads

The Vermont Yankee nuclear plant is suing the state of Vermont in a bid to stay open past next year, and now is taking its case to newspaper readers.

In full page newspaper ads taken out Tuesday in nine Vermont newspapers, the CEO of plant owner Entergy says the company wishes it didn't have to go to court but that it had no choice.

Wayne Leonard's signed letter says Vermont Yankee's owners have a responsibility - to the plant's employees, the company's investors and electricity consumers - to stake its claim to operating past March 2012, when the state wants it shut down.

Larry Smith is a Vermont Yankee spokesman, and says Leonard wanted to have a conversation about the issue with the people of Vermont.