(Host) Anthony Pollina, the Progressive Party’s candidate for lieutenant governor, says some of the money from the Vermont Yankee sale should go to jump-start renewable energy. Pollina has endorsed an idea first proposed by environmentalists who have challenged the sale of Vermont’s only nuclear plant.
Pollina says $25 million from the sale proceeds should be set aside to create jobs and invest in new energy technology:
(Pollina) “The ironic thing is that the sale of Vermont Yankee essentially has a lot of negatives. Essentially, Vermonters are going to lose control, regulatory control, over the nuclear power plant that’s sited within the state. That’s a bad thing, frankly. The Public Service Board needs to find that any sale is in the long-term public interest of Vermonters. I think that allocating money toward the renewable energy fund, allowing us to invest in good manufacturing jobs and Vermont-based business is one way that the sale of Vermont Yankee could actually be seen as having a benefit to the state.”
(Host) The Dean administration has not supported the renewable fund idea. But Pollina says it makes sense to help an industry that could create jobs making the hardware to harness solar and wind power.
(Pollina) “I would ask people to imagine what it would be like to reopen closed factories around the state as manufacturers of renewable energy systems. Or imagine what it would be like for Vermont to become the Silicon Valley of renewable energy and a real leader in both the manufacturing and research related to renewable energy technologies.”
(Host) The Public Service Board is expected to rule on the Yankee sale later this week.