How subtle for the Reformer to buy right into the SPIN campaign of the pro-nuclear lobbyists. I guess it is not surprising given Entergy’s five million dollar contract with a major Public Relations firm, Burson Marsteller. Add that to the Nuclear Energy Intstitute, the nuclear industry front group and their eight million dollar contract with Hill and Knowlton, another major PR firm. I look scornfully upon the ignorance of the Reformer printing a 670 word letter from the former VP of finance for Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corporation.
Yes the Reformer has done it again. The Heifer stroll edition of the paper contained a lengthy ( over 2x the length of letters supposedly) letter by VY’s finance VP, the folks who sold our nuke to the same Louisiana corporation that bailed out of New Orleans following the Hurricane Katrina debacle. Might Entergy do the same here in the event of either a) lower profits or b) an accident ?
Does not the Reformer editorial staff know that the only individuals who support Entergy nuclear locally are people who either have or will benefit economically from nuclear energy’s continuation in VT (this includes all Vernon residents)?
Is it right that their industry connections should be unspoken while they support an industry that risks and threatens the economy and environment so gravely that we must have siren tests each month and evacuation plans drilled regularly by the emergency responders (yet, Heavens no, not by the throngs who may someday need to evacuate)
I guess the Reformer had to find a way to give back to the industry that so lovingly bought numerous full page ads to convince us of how green and clean and safe they are. Too bad the Better Business Bureau didn’t think so. They have already determined that calling nuclear 'Environmentally Clean" is not truthful.
I can honor the 350 word limit here or include the following to refute Mr. Wigget’s poorly crafted plea.
Mr Wigget called VY a “green”source of generation in the state. Getting off fossil fuels to depend on interim nuclear is like getting of cigarettes by doing crack cocaine (credit to Harvey Wasserman)
Mr. Wigget is nothing short of manipulative as he states that long term power contract had the intention of saving VT ratepayers so much money over the 10 year contract. He neglects to point out that had the rates not been so low, the sale would not have been permitted. In other words, by Entergy’s signing the contract that provides power at about half the market rate for electricity, they bought their way into VT. Just like the few million dollars Entergy threw at the state in the Memoranda of Understanding to buy permission for the uprate, and also to secure the permission for the dry cask storage.
First they buy their way in, then they spin it and tell us how much we need them.
Mr Wigget wrongly speaks of Entergy having been held hostage, which actually was a back room deal at the statehouse that won money for the Governor’s pet projects. What Mr. Wigget calls “ransom”, for his admitted nearly 11 billion dollar corporation, I call pay- to-play, or pay-out to win economic best interest of the state to pass regulatory hurdles at the state level.