This week, Senator Leahy called for a war tax, the deadline is almost here for dairy farmers to apply for money from the Dean Foods settlement, a New York mattress company announced it would bring its headquarters and 100 jobs to Manchester, radioactive tritium was found in the Connecticut River for the first time, and Governor Shumlin headed to Canada to discuss bringing hydro power to Vermont.
These were some of the voices in the news this week.
Shumlin Heads To Labrador To Discuss Hydro Power
(Shumlin) "Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador have extraordinary resources and we’re fortunate to have them to deliver us green, cheap reliable power and we want to make sure that we’re looking forward in the 21st century to ensure that we can grow jobs and economic opportunities by trying to get some of that power down to New England. As much of it as we can, as cheaply as we can."
(Leahy) "You’re never going to get it until they realize that you’ve had 2 wars that have gone on now for a total of 20 years with the two of them and they were done on a credit card. Unless we’re willing to say we’re going to have to pay for those we’re going to have to do probably retroactively what we should have done in the first place and have a special tax for those wars."
Vermont Yankee Questions Tritium Findings
(Irwin) "The EPA recommended limit for tritium is 20,000 picocuries per liter. The values that we’re measuring – 534 and 611 picocuries per liter – are about 30 times less than that, what might be called a safe drinking water level."
Dairy Lawsuit Payout Deadline Approaches
(Bothfeld) "From what I can see reading the settlement, no, I do not see a downside for farmers to take part. It does not exclude them from the continuation of the lawsuit with the other defendants. If there’s a future lawsuit against Dean Foods, they’re not excluded from that. From what I can read in the settlement, and not being a lawyer, I cannot see a downside for farmers if they choose to take part."
Mattress Company Plans To Move To Manchester
(Wilkinson) "The state of Vermont did develop a very nice incentive package for us. So it was kind of a natural move, the building being exactly what we needed, and plenty of room for expansion. And we do plan to expand over the next five years."