Judge J. Garvan Murtha's Jan. 19 ruling upheld Entergy's claim of preemption - the concept that the federal government's jurisdiction over atomic safety issues supersedes any state statutes.
In his ruling, Murtha also said that the state had not completely proved Entergy couldn't sue the state despite promises made in a 2002 memorandum of understanding (MOU) in its purchase of Vermont Yankee.
Murtha's ruling also agreed with Entergy's arguments that Vermont's actions had gone against the Commerce Clause, the provision in the U.S. Constitution that assigns regulations of interstate business transactions to the federal government.
Lawyers from the Vermont Law School have been watching the case closely from its filing last spring to the trial in U.S. District Court in the fall to anticipating Murtha's ruling into the winter months, until the release of the document this week.
My first reaction to the decision on the Vermont Yankee lawsuit was, “Thank goodness!” Judge Murtha made a wise decision that will benefit Vermont, and he made it despite the whining of special-interest groups, self-appointed “experts,” and self-serving politicians. Safe, clean, and affordable electric power will continue to be...
Obituaries Editor's note: The Commons will publish brief biographical information for citizens of Windham County and others, on request, as community news, free of charge. • Walter L. Allen, 93, of Bellows Falls. Died Jan. 13 at the McGirr Nursing Home. Father of Robert Allen. Stepfather of Nelson and...
When I get out of bed in these dark, winter mornings, I head straight for the woodstove. My cat Marshmallow materializes out of her shadowy corner of the kitchen, where she keeps vigil in the night, waiting for the wee mice that sometimes emerge from the woodwork. She trots next to me, mewling, as I invoke the blessings of the fire gods and goddesses. “Please, let there be coals.” I kneel on the hearth, and Marshmallow sits beside me as...
United Way of Windham County has awarded over $130,000 in grants to local programs in its first round of grant-making under the new “Community Impact” initiative. 22 programs represented by 16 Windham County organizations were awarded six months of funding to carry out work towards community goals in the area of Education, Income, and Health. Of the 16 funded organizations, three are receiving grant funding from United Way for the first time. “We were very pleased with the quality of...
I am also confused by Barry Adams's position. Even the name of his organization is perplexing. “Save Our Playground” suggests that youth recreation is his top priority, while skateboarding youth are left to skate in the streets. In the spirit of reconciliation, I'd love to see Adams work with BASIC to identify criteria by which candidate skatepark sites might be assessed. From my vantage point, it looks like a case of someone intentionally obstructing a public process based on unfounded...
Brattleboro OB/GYN moves to new office BRATTLEBORO - The Brattleboro OB/GYN medical practice has relocated to the first floor of the Gannett Building, located at the west end of the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital campus. The practice opened at the new location on Jan. 17. The practice, which includes Four Seasons Midwifery, moved because it outgrew the offices on 28 Belmont Ave., according to Vice President of Physician and Business Development Prudence MacKinney. Brattleboro OB/GYN consists of physicians Dr. James Bunker...
This Saturday, the Brattleboro Music Center (BMC) will sponsor the annual Northern Roots Festival. The day-long event brings together local and regional musicians representing the best of various northern musical traditions, including Irish, Scottish, English, Swedish, and French-Canadian. It includes participation workshops, concerts, pub sessions, a family dance, and evening performances. “There is such an exceptional community in Brattleboro of musicians who specialize in traditional music from the North that we wanted to provide a showcase for this stellar local...
Wednesday, Jan. 18 was a chilly, blustery, and sunny day. It was also my birthday. Along with 13 other women in the Shut it Down Affinity Group from Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, dressed all in black and wearing white death masks, I participated in a silent walking meditation circle on the driveway of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. In addition to the silent walk, some unfurled a black-and-white banner that read, “Entergy = Fukushima.“ When the police arrived...
What is going on with movies at the Latchis? That is a question we've been asked, and one that deserves an answer. On one hand, we hear concern that the movie mix has changed in favor of commercial fare. On the other, families who never found the types of movies they wanted at the Latchis are happy to see them here, where the surroundings are historic and the popcorn is fairly priced. Here is the backstory on what is going...
I couldn't disagree more with your editorial on Peter Shumlin's State of the State message. It's sad to see The Commons, a model of innovation in media, standing up for the same old way of thinking. Yes, a proper caution must be exercised, and we'll need to intelligently review what went right and what may cause problems later. But I find it inspiring that we repaired roads and bridges at a third the projected price. Can we do that elsewhere...
The Mount Snow Valley Chamber of Commerce board recently presented its new plans and initiatives for the organization to a packed house. Interim Executive Director Adam Grinold told the membership that the chamber board has asked him to develop a plan to smooth the transition from his three-month tenure to when the board hires a permanent leader. Grinold said that he based portions of the presentation on former Executive Director Philip Gilpin's initiatives. Gilpin presented a number of initiatives at...
Little Bread & Puppet state goes up against big nuke and the fed gummit. What could go wrong?
The original permit from Blue Heron Hydro [“For hydro dams, a chicken and egg,” Jan. 11] matched word for word with that issued for the development work on the West River done in the 1970s. These proposals, which are public record, used 100 percent of the potential energy of both the dams. At Ball Mountain, the potential head from the historical lake level is 80 feet, with 45 feet of the head after the gatehouse where Blue Heron plans on...
The Brattleboro boys' hockey team is trying to get it together after a dismal start to the season. On Wednesday at Withington Rink, the Colonels beat the Missisquoi Thunderbirds, 2-1, for their third victory in a row. The win was even more satisfying for the Colonels in that it came against one of the top teams in Division II. After a scoreless first period, the T-Birds took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Dylan LaFountain in the second period.
Shaw Israel Izikson: I stopped eating fast food. I did it by driving past the fast food joints whenever I see them, avoiding pressing down on the brake pedal. As long as I don't hit that brake pedal, it's all good... * * * Fran Lynggaard Hansen: I slowed down my life, began leaving the cell phone at home, color-coded my calendar to be sure I didn't over-schedule myself, and focused on getting at least eight hours of sleep per...
Imagine a black-and-white map of Brattleboro. Now, imagine marking the map first with bright blue flags for every place focused on the arts, then with light blue flags for the areas supporting the arts. “You'd see a lot of blue,” said Kate Anderson, the chair of the Brattleboro Town Arts Committee (TAC), who has organized an effort to explore a new grant opportunity from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Winning an NEA Our Town grant would help launch...
My thanks to The Commons for printing almost the full text of Gov. Shumlin's State of the State address in the Jan. 11 edition. Gov. Shumlin concisely and clearly tells the story of the devastation caused by Tropical Storm Irene and how the state partnered with local communities and federal agencies with remarkable efficiency to deal with Irene's challenges in timely and necessary ways. Vermont did indeed become “Vermont Strong” in its response to Irene, and for this Gov. Shumlin...
School Auditors' reports are now available BRATTLEBORO - The Brattleboro Town and Town School District auditors' reports for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011, are available upon request and may be picked up at the town clerk's office, at the Municipal Center, 230 Main St. The auditors' reports will also be available as part of the town and school district annual report, which will be available at the town clerk's office no later than Feb. 24. Based on a...
Brattleboro Area Hospice (BAH) recently announced that its second store, Experienced Goods Home Furnishings, located at 51 Elliot St., will close its doors on March 1. Experienced Goods Thrift Store, located at 77 Flat St. in the Transportation Center, remains open, and will continue to accept and sell quality donations to benefit the hospice. The two stores provide two-thirds of BAH's annual funding. A factor in the consolidating the two stores was the cost of cleaning up flood damage at...
I hear people talk about supporting the state of Vermont as we campaign to shut down Vermont Yankee. I see no reason to support the state of Vermont regarding shutting down Vermont Yankee. For the past 40 years, some branch of the state government or another has historically allowed VY to operate with impunity, lies, and poisoning the water, air, and life of its surrounding area. When Entergy bought VY and quickly petitioned the state for a 20-percent increase in...
There goes Barry Adams again, dissing a professional whose opinion and efforts he is unable to appreciate and respect [“Mediation process for proposed skatepark halted,” Jan. 18]. As the person who has ultimate responsibility for the project, Brattleboro Town Manager Barb Sondag deserves to be at the mediation table. This is nothing but continued stall tactics from the Save Our Playground Coalition. Hopefully Judge Durkin will rule swiftly and justly on this case, so that Brattleboro's citizens can move forward...
In his fiscal year 2013 budget address earlier this month, Gov. Peter Shumlin said, “I commend our local school boards for holding the line on new spending over the past two years and urge them to do it again.” But one year of level funding was enough for Leland & Gray Middle and High School. For fiscal 2013, the proposed budget comes in at $6,552,332, which is a 3.5 percent increase over last year's $6,328,984 total. A public information meeting...
Your “Musical Antidote for a Vermont Winter” [Arts, Jan. 11] proved itself in more ways than one! The New England premiere of Bob Chilcott's Salisbury Vespers at First Baptist was the latest rouser from the Brattleboro Concert Choir, which prides itself on deft performances of choral works that are off the beaten path. This was an exciting piece, done well, with huge brass, percussion, and Estey pipe organ accompaniment to match an otherwise matchless, well-trained, and well-singing choral ensemble. Traditional...
Months of openly offering a very clear and solid basis for our opposition to the proposed plan and location of the Brattleboro skatepark (not a skatepark itself) in a tiny 2.1-acre public green space in a residential neighborhood have made no headway in advancing a discussion beyond allegations of simple evildoing by evildoers. Two highly experienced and credentialed arborists from two states, and a comprehensive analysis of how harm will likely kill the healthiest of the old growth trees that...
The Vermont Jazz Center (VJC) will host a new 10-week session of classes, beginning the week of Feb. 13. This semester the jazz center will offer two courses aimed at the general public: a gospel choir for anyone who loves to sing, and a listening class for anyone who wants to understand a bit more about what goes on in a jazz musician's head while listening to some of the greatest jazz ever recorded. Along with its successful youth and...
Less than a week old, Judge J. Garvan Murtha's Jan. 19 ruling on the Entergy v. Vermont case has officials and observers alike asking: Where next? Murtha's ruling upheld Entergy's claim of preemption - the concept that the federal government's jurisdiction over atomic safety issues supersedes any state statutes. In his ruling, Murtha also said the state had not completely proved that Entergy couldn't sue the state despite promises the company made in a 2002 memorandum of understanding (MOU) in...
Under the fluorescent lights of the Deerfield Valley Elementary School gymnasium, people take yellow adhesive notes scrawled with suggestions and stick them onto FEMA posters circling the gym. Displaying topics like Natural Resources, Infrastructure, and Historic Village, the posters ask one underlying question: What does the community want for its future Wilmington? A team of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) specialists opened the town's Long-Term Community Recovery (LTCR) process to a packed gym last Tuesday. The team of eight specialists...
Winter brings both cold temperatures and the stark reality that home fires are the single most common disaster across the country. Heating fires are the leading cause of home fires in Vermont. Many of these fires can be prevented through proper maintenance and proper use of heating equipment. As conventional energy sources - such as oil, electricity, and propane - rise and fall in price and availability, alternative heating becomes more attractive and, with it, the potential for residential heating...
I woke on Jan. 1 with cheery anticipation to carry out my very favorite New Year's ritual: cleaning out the refrigerator. I challenge anyone to best my collection of little jars filled with half-used condiments and more than the usual dying and moldy chunks of cheese and abandoned bread. I managed until that morning to ignore the bag of sad, limp greens that had never made it into a Christmas salad. On the little narrow shelves of the icebox door...
A performance of Marx in Soho will benefit Making the Most of I (MMI) on Saturday, Feb. 11, at 7:30 p.m., at Stone Church Arts, 20 Church St. Internationally acclaimed actor Jerry Levy will perform the one-man play, written by historian, author, and activist Howard Zinn. MMI is a small nonprofit organization, based in Saxtons River, which has served more than 1,200 low-income women in transition in various locations throughout the state since its founding in 1998 by director Nancy...
Miriam Wolf You can support the immune system by using herbs and medicinal mushrooms. Get more rest and sleep. Be sure to slow down and get fresh air outside. Dr. Miriam Wolf is a health consultant and intuitive who practices in Putney. Cliff Steinberg I'm very supportive of the idea of taking good care of self, resting appropriately, moving the body, getting good outdoor time, and doing things to stay vigorous, which helps improve the immune system. One thing I...
Local lawmakers said Monday that while last Thursday's ruling by U.S. District Court Judge J. Garvan Murtha in the Entergy v. Vermont case was a significant setback to the state's efforts to regulate nuclear energy, the case is far from closed. At a meeting with the Brattleboro Selectboard, Rep. Sarah Edwards, P-Brattleboro, said there are other areas governing the operation of Entergy's Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon that fall under the state's purview. Chief among those areas is...
In a 102-page document released on Thursday, U.S. District Court judge has ruled in favor of Entergy in the company's lawsuit against the state. “Act 160 and a single provision in Act 74 – requiring affirmative legislative approval for storage of spent nuclear fuel after March 21, 2012 – are held to be preempted by the Atomic Energy Act,” Judge J. Garvan Murtha wrote in his long-awaited ruling. With Murtha's decision, the state is effectively barred from ordering Vermont Yankee...
Judge J. Garvan Murtha's disappointing but unsurprising ruling in the Entergy v. Vermont federal lawsuit has made it likely that Vermont Yankee will stay open past March 21. Like any good judge, Murtha respected precedent and avoided legislating from the bench, though if ever there were an issue that needed legislating, it would be the way that a state is prohibited from any control over an issue that affects the very lives of its citizens - nuclear safety. Only the...