If Vermont Yankee is closed, residents of Vermont and surrounding states will regret that decision every time they open their electric bills for the next 18 years.
I had the privilege of touring the plant in March 2014. As a former submarine engineer officer and maintenance requirements officer in the U.S. Navy, I've had the opportunity to tour a large number of steam power plants. VY was one of the most impressive and well-maintained facilities I've ever seen.
For the past 42 years, it has reliably produced almost enough electricity to supply the entire state of Vermont by itself, giving the state the lowest per-capita carbon dioxide emission rates in the country.
Until 2010, it sold its power for $40 per megawatt-hour, day in and day out, even on the harshest winter days when the price of power from natural gas fired plants spiked to levels above $250 per MW-hr.
George Clain [Letters, July 20] is correct: the Entergy representatives were not lying in their testimony to the state Public Service Board, but answering what they thought was a technical question in the technically accurate way that engineers use. In my opinion, at least one of the people who...