(Host) Two groups opposed to the Vermont Yankee sale are trying to stop the deal at the last minute. On Monday, the Citizens Awareness Network and the New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution filed new legal arguments against the sale with state and federal regulators.
The Yankee plant is scheduled to be sold Wednesday to the Entergy Corporation of Jackson, Mississippi. On Friday, the state Public Service Board gave its final go-ahead for the deal.
But the two anti-nuclear groups argue that a plan to divide money left over in the Yankee decommissioning fund violates federal law. John Block represents the Citizens Awareness Network. He challenged the Entergy deal in a complaint before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Block says the decommissioning plan treats Yankee’s out-of-state ratepayers differently from those in Vermont:
(Block) “So I don’t think this is going to be a done deal. There’s going to be a lot of risks for Entergy going forward and the new one is the complaint that we filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, because we asked them to take a number of actions in order to deal with the violations with their rules.”
(Host) Block has also asked the Public Service Board to reconsider last week’s approval of the deal.
But Yankee spokesman Brian Cosgrove says the sale will close as scheduled:
(Cosgrove) “The anti-nuclear lobby is certainly free to file whatever legal motions that they feel are appropriate. However, we have received the go-ahead from the one that is most important to us, which is the Public Service Board, and the one that has control of this particular docket. And since we have that green light, we are moving ahead with closing the sale.”
(Host) Entergy has promised to pay $180 million for the 30-year old nuclear plant. The deal also includes a contract that requires Vermont utilities to buy power from the reactor for the next 10 years.