400K Pageviews at Yes Vermont Yankee Blog

A Successful Blog

Yesterday afternoon, I took this screen shot of the page-views on Yes Vermont Yankee blog.  It's from the blogger "Stats" page. Clearly the time-line is not right, because the blog began in January 2010. Still, I think the page-count is accurate.  For example, the big blip shown in "April 2009" is certainly the giant readership of the 25th Carnival of Nuclear Energy blogs in October 2010.  That post was featured in Instapundit and other venues.

I'm proud of the record of this blog. The blog has followed the story of Vermont Yankee and put that story in perspective. The issues in Vermont are a reflection (exaggeration?) of the type of opposition faced by nuclear plants world-wide.  In my opinion, knowing the specifics of a single example illuminates the "big picture" of nuclear.

Angwin and Shaffer as Visible Supporters of Vermont Yankee

This blog has also served as a voice for the pro-nuclear side of the debate about Vermont Yankee.  Howard Shaffer and I have been voices for Vermont Yankee. We have been rewarded by frequent media interviews, plus opportunities to write op-eds and participate in debates. (But the opponents won't debate us any more. More accurately, opponents tried to back out of our most recent debates, and no new debates are currently scheduled...)

The presence of this blog also means that reporter bias becomes visible.  A biased, rushed or lazy reporter can interview a well-known opponent. He or she can follow this by getting a "no comment" from the plant.  That's the end-of-story for that reporter! However, the more enterprising reporters know that Howard and I are available. We are knowledgeable, we are credible, and we are always good for a sound-bite.  We don't expect to get interviewed every time, but we do get interviewed.

A Voice For Many Supporters

Howard and I are not the only voices in this blog.  I am pleased that this blog has hosted guest posts from plant supporters within and outside of Vermont: Willem Post, Charles Kelly, Guy Page, Dr. Robert Hargraves, Cheryl Twarog, Cavan Stone, and many more. This blog has been a place for pro-nuclear voices to be heard.

I am especially proud of the many examples of pro-Vermont Yankee statements submitted to the Public Service Board in November 2012: many of these are guest posts on the blog.  For a listing of Public Service Board posts on this blog, I recommend Vermont Yankee's Greatest Hits at the Public Service Board Meeting, posted at ANS Nuclear Cafe.  

But better yet: get the book!  George Angwin and I put together Voices for Vermont Yankee, a compendium of pictures and testimony from plant supporters at the Public Service Board meeting.

You can buy Voices for Vermont Yankee as a Kindle for $2.99
You can buy Voices for Vermont Yankee as a paperback for $4.51
You can buy Voices for Vermont Yankee on the Nook for  $2.99

Just in time for Christmas!  (Though it's late for Hanukkah, it could be a New Year's present maybe?)

The ebook versions are less expensive than a ginger latte, or whatever the local coffee shops are serving nowadays. The paperback version is something you can hold, and it has a pretty full-color cover.  Yes, you can afford one of these books!  You will find reading the book to be heartening and inspiring.

Supporting the Work

Buying the book also supports the pro-nuclear activism of the Energy Education Project: a portion of book profits is donated to the Project. We do everything on the super-cheap, but we still have expenses.  There's mileage, some Internet fees, travel for ourselves and for guest speakers. We have summer interns when we can.  Every now and again, if we can, we pay ourselves something (not much, alas, not much).  Your contribution helps a lot!

Or you can donate to the Energy Education Project directly.  There's a Donate button at the top right of this page.  Please click it and make a donation of any amount.  If you want to be a full-fledged member of the Energy Education Project, please donate $30 ($40 for a family membership) . It is perfectly okay to donate more ;-) I think $50 is a nice number, don't you?

Any amount is helpful, it really is. When you make is a direct donation to our cause, it is fully tax-deductible.  The Energy Education Project is part of the Ethan Allen Institute, a 501c(3) nonprofit, educational organization.

Here's a link to more information about donation and membership.


Thank you for reading this blog. Please support it if you can.