Mike Faher

State approves sale of dormant VY plant

State approves sale of dormant VY plant

Entergy projects an early-2019 sale to NorthStar, which plans to decommission the shuttered nuke by 2030

State regulators have OK'd the sale of Vermont Yankee to a New York-based cleanup company, clearing the final regulatory hurdle for an unprecedented, accelerated decommissioning project at the dormant nuclear plant.

The Dec. 6 ruling from the state Public Utility Commission allows Entergy, which has owned Vermont Yankee since 2002, to sell the Vernon plant and its decommissioning trust fund to NorthStar.

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VY suitor to seek cultural consultant

Move by NorthStar is aimed at addressing Abenaki questions about decommissioning work at historic site

If NorthStar Group Services gets a chance to decommission Vermont Yankee, a “cultural expert” will be watching over the company's work. In a nod to Native American concerns about the Vernon site's historical importance, NorthStar CEO Scott State is committing to hiring an expert to act as a consultant...

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Strong market boosts Vermont Yankee trust fund

Investments yield net increase of $13 million

It's been a good year for financial markets, and that's good news for Vermont Yankee's all-important decommissioning trust fund. New figures show the fund has grown by $13 million this year despite the fact that Entergy is making regular, substantial withdrawals. Entergy administrators say they aren't spending less than...

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VY companies want 'sensitive' info sealed

Vermont Yankee's current and prospective owners are expanding their quest to keep “highly sensitive” information about their finances and business dealings out of the public eye. That information newly at issue includes detailed financial data for NorthStar Group Services, the nuclear plant's proposed buyer. It also includes “descriptions of several types of risk” Entergy faces if it continues to own Vermont Yankee. The state Public Utility Commission's review of the Vermont Yankee sale has produced reams of public documents. But...

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Tainted water costs exceed $2M at VY

Entergy has spent more than $2 million to dispose of groundwater leaking into a dormant turbine building at Vermont Yankee. And the leaks show no sign of stopping, though administrators at the idled Vernon plant say they're continuing to find and address problem areas when possible. There are still 500 to 600 gallons of water entering the turbine building each day, said Joe Lynch, a senior government affairs manager for Entergy. But that's actually an improvement from much more severe...

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Solar developers see treasure in old trash dumps

In some Vermont towns, old landfills have become hot commodities. Spurred in part by the state's new net-metering rules, solar developers are scrambling to build photovoltaic arrays on closed, capped landfills that previously had been considered useless for development. The trend encompasses big arrays - such as a 5-megawatt project slated for Brattleboro's former landfill - as well as smaller arrays that can fit on more compact municipal dumps, like a planned project in Newfane. While there are engineering hurdles...

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Halifax company assists Puerto Rico's recovery

A software company born in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene is playing a key role in Puerto Rico's recovery from Hurricane Maria. Halifax-based Storm Petrel LLC, which assists governments with post-disaster financial management, has landed a contract to aid Puerto Rican authorities as they begin recovering from a Category 4 storm that devastated the island last month. It's a large-scale, high-profile application for Storm Petrel's software, which was designed to help communities navigate complex federal funding regulations. “The commonwealth...

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Brattleboro looks to ‘instigate’ small business

A few months ago, Chelsea Nunez quit her job and dove “headfirst” into the hard-knocks world of startup entrepreneurship. But she's had some assistance in getting her Brattleboro event-planning company - playfully called Nacho Average Events - off the ground. Nunez was one of several entrepreneurs graduating from a new “Startup Lab” in Brattleboro. It's part of a larger effort, called INSTIG8, aimed at encouraging and nurturing small businesses as the region attempts to recover from the loss of the...

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