Voices

VY hearing left out many voices of the community

PUTNEY — Thanks for covering the Vermont State Senate hearing at the Brattleboro Retreat regarding the economic future of Windham County post Vermont Yankee. Unfortunately, the bias exhibited by the narrow choice of participants and subjects addressed at the hearing was crystal clear.

One of the major opportunities for good jobs and a really exciting future economy in our area is our green energy future. Astoundingly, not one of the many local people working in the fields of solar, wind, district heating, or any of the other exciting possibilities being explored to meet our energy usage was invited to speak. Green jobs is an area that Gov. Peter Shumlin, and so many others, are promoting as a viable job market.

While it is certainly true that the nonprofits will lose a source of income when Vermont Yankee closes, those who spoke are those who have relied most heavily on Entergy's money. These groups have been most vocal in their support of Yankee and have turned off certain funders who do not agree with their advocacy for VY.

There are many nonprofits in the Brattleboro area. Each has had to make the choice of how to fund the vital work they do. Some have chosen to accept money from Entergy, but not to publicly promote Vermont Yankee. Others have decided that they could do their work without this source of funding. It would certainly have made sense to hear from organizations that have followed a different path.

Interestingly, even with the many economic challenges facing Brattleboro and Windham County, every time there is an opportunity to vote their minds, the people of our area overwhelmingly choose closure of Vermont Yankee.

As recently as Town Meeting Day on March 1, by a greater than 2-1 margin, Brattleboro voters instructed the Selectboard to approve a letter written by Safe and Green, an organization advocating closure of VY on or before March 21, 2012.

The letter expressed concerns we all face about Entergy's doing a responsible job of running the plant for the final year, as well as the huge job of decommissioning. In the past few years, many local towns have voted by large majorities in town meetings for closure of the plant.

Even while we understand the hardship for those who work at VY and will lose jobs, the unspoken reason for the overwhelming sentiment in favor of closure in our area is the anxiety of living with an aging and deteriorating nuclear plant in our community.

Not one speaker explored the reasons why those of us who live with the sirens, evacuation drills for our school-aged children, anxiety about the many leaks and “incidents” at Vermont Yankee, and worry about a major catastrophe there have spoken out again and again.

The message, delivered by those chosen by the Brattleboro Development Credit Corp. director Jeff Lewis as participants, was that closing VY is a complete disaster for Windham County.

Any person who could have delivered a hopeful or positive message about the county's post Vermont Yankee future was not invited to testify at this hearing. 

We can only hope that if there is another hearing like this, a more balanced segment of community voices will be heard.

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