Westminster Votes to Dump Vermont Yankee
Perhaps it's their proximity to a potential nuclear ground zero, but at this weekend's town meeting, the residents of Westminster "fired the first salvo for a Nuclear Free Vermont After 2012," according to Dan Dewalt, who's leading the Town Meeting Day campaign to stop the relicensing of Vermont Yankee in 2012.
"In a nearly unanimous vote, residents at the Westminster town meeting on Saturday, Feb. 28 called for Vermont to set its sights on a sustainable energy future and asked the legislature to not support the idea of extending the operating license of Vermont Yankee for twenty more years. The vote also asked the legislature to ensure that the decommissioning fund, which currently has barely one third of themoney necessary, be fully funded by the plant's owner, Entergy Nuclear.
Ben Mitchell, speaking to the resolution, raised concerns about the mounting stores of nuclear waste on the banks of the Connecticut River, pointing out what he saw as environmental hazards that would be exacerbated by inadequate, long-term storage solutions.
According to reports from those attending, there was only one lone voice that didn't agree with the sentiment of the nearly one hundred people present."
For more on the campaign, check out the group's website here.
