March 17 Rally In Support of Vermont Yankee

Mark Your Calendars for March 17

Thanks to YOU, we have had two very successful Rallies. Supporters have said they want to have another rally, and we have decided to hold one on March 17 (St. Patrick's Day).

We have chosen March 17th because it is a Saturday, and also near the March 21 date when the plant's original license was due to end. The license is not ending, and we want to be at Vermont Yankee to celebrate. We are happy that Vermont Yankee will continue to operate!

When and Where

We are planning for the rally at the plant gate from 5:00-6:30 p.m. on Saturday March 17. The 5 to 6:30 rally is during shift change. We will hold signs, wave and show support for the people of Vermont Yankee. It will be Daylight Savings time, so we won't be finishing in the dark.

Saturday March 17 is St Patrick's Day, so we will work this into our plans. We will have some signs, but please feel free to think about making your own signs, For example: "Celebrating GREEN power on St. Patrick's Day!"

Important UPDATE: We will be holding the rally between 5 and 6:30, and we will not be using the Governor Hunt House for discussion earlier in the day. Sorry for the change in plans!

Why the 17th?

The opponents are planning marches and activities around March 21, but have nothing scheduled on the 17th. We want to be on our own again. This is especially important because the opponents are talking about civil disobedience, non-violence training, etc. As always, we want this rally to be non-confrontational. Also, we hope our rally will not be too much trouble for the plant security staff. We have their permission to hold the rally.

Howard Shaffer has the lead for planning. If you can let him know you are coming to the rally, that would be great.

Howard Shaffer PE

PO Box 299

Enfield, NH 03748

603-632-5139

603-304-9157 cell

hshaffer3@myfairpoint.net

This Rally is planned by the Vermont Pilot Project of the American Nuclear Society: this project is headed by Howard Shaffer. Also by the Energy Education Project of the Ethan Allen Institute: this project is headed by Meredith Angwin.

About the Previous Rallies

The first Rally was September 12, 2011 in Brattleboro, in front of the Courthouse building. The trial of the Entergy vs. the State of Vermont was in its first day. Opponents were also holding a vigil a the same time. The purpose of our rally was to provide visibility to the media and public, and prove that there are supporters for Vermont Yankee! (Note that current polls show about 44% Vermonters in favor of VY, 42 % opposed.)

You can view a photo album of the September rally at the Energy Education Project website

The second Rally was held on October 23, 2011 at the plant gate. It was held over shift change during the refueling outage. The purpose was to show support to the plant staff and contract outage crafts. The rally was very successful, and much appreciated by both plant staff and management. Media coverage was good. The photographs on this page are from this rally.

You can read a blog post about the October rally at ANS Nuclear Cafe.