A volunteer-run citizen's group is organizing an April 29 march on the Vermont statehouse to call for the closing of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. “We need to show Vermont legislators that the citizens of Vermont want Entergy Corporation held accountable for decommissioning, and we want the dirty, dangerous, unreliable, and costly Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant shut down,” said event organizer Debra Stoleroff, of the Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance (http://www.vyda.org/). The Alliance is part of the Safe Power Vermont Coalition(http://www.safepowervt.org/) which includes several groups with paid staff.

Anti-nuclear march, Brattleboro, 2008. (Click photo to enlarge.) photo by Eesha Williams

The schedule for the April 29 rain-or-shine events includes a 10 a.m. march from Montpelier city hall to the statehouse, a 10:30 a.m. rally on the statehouse steps, and, from 10:45 a.m. until 3 p.m., a renewable energy fair on the west lawn of the statehouse. At noon, citizens will meet with legislators inside the statehouse.

Dan DeWalt, a Newfane woodworker and anti-nuclear activist, said: "Town meeting votes this year confirmed that Vermonters want to embrace sustainable energy and want Vermont Yankee to shut down as it was designed to do in 2012. Thirty-six towns voted for the ‘replace VY’ resolution. Only two voted it down.” DeWalt said Entergy uses the same PR firm as Blackwater, AIG, and several “disgraced dictators.”

On March 27, the Vermont House passed a bill that would require Entergy Corp. of Louisiana to add money to the fund set aside for dismantling the reactor when it stops operating. The bill would require Entergy to pay more than $350 million into the decommissioning fund during the next decade. The fund is now worth about $300 million. The cost of clean up is estimated to be more than $1 billion. The Senate is expected to pass the bill. Republican Governor Jim Douglas says he will veto it.

For information on the April 29 march and rally, Stoleroff can be reached at debra@vtlink.net or (802) 476-3154. The contact person for southern Vermont, western Massachusetts, and the Keene, NH area is Chad Simmons: (802) 377-7403.