Video of October Rally

I was trying to find a reference for a blog post I am writing, and I looked at my April 12 Vermont Yankee Google alert. (My Google alerts contain many useful links.) To my surprise, I encountered this video. I guess I didn't notice it when I reviewed the April 12 alert on April 12.

I have no idea who took the video, but they must be a supporter, because the video is titled "Yes Vermont Yankee!" Apparently it was posted about a week ago.

I decided to use the video as a post while I continue writing the other blog post. I honor this supporter, watchguy53, whoever he (or she) might be! Thanks for the video.

Rally for Vermont Yankee this Saturday!

Rally Reminder from Howard Shaffer

The RALLY for Vermont Yankee is this Saturday 5:00-6:30, March 17, at the plant. The rally is shaping up nicely! We are going to have a great time, as we did in September and October.

In October we finished in twilight and went home in the dark. Now we will be finishing in daylight! The weather will be spring-like. That's New England spring. The forecast is for high 40's and 20% chance of showers.

If it rains, we can duck inside the Governor Hunt house, as we were also allowed to do in October. There will be snacks as in October. We will have some fact-filled handouts, to help you write letters to the editor or speak to your friends about nuclear power.

Dress for the weather, and don't forget thick-soled shoes. Standing on grass in thin shoes can make your feet cold.

Please wear something for St Patrick's Day! We will supply some items for the day's theme.

Signs

We will have some signs, but feel to make your own signs. They give the rally a personal touch. See the "Save Vermont Yankee" Facebook page for photos of signs at earlier rallies.

Some Sign Ideas (Your ideas will be better than mine!)

NO MORE FUD Fear Uncertainty Doubt

What About the 34,000 that die EVERY YEAR from COAL? (EPA)

THAT'S why NUCLEAR POWER

Green Power for the Green Day- and Every Day.

TWENTY MORE SAFE, CLEAN YEARS!!

See you there!

Contact information for Howard Shaffer, who is planning the rally

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.

94th Carnival of Nuclear Energy Bloggers at NEI Nuclear Notes

The 94th Carnival of Nuclear Energy Bloggers is up at NEI Nuclear Notes. David Bradish has put together a great Carnival. Look, I'm not just saying that because the Carnival includes a picture of me and Howard at the October Rally. I would have said it is a great Carnival, even without the picture! Because it is.

Gail Marcus of Nuke Power Talk discusses the importance of funding for nuclear education. I put the Vermont Yankee issues in perspective at ANS Nuclear Notes, and announce the March 17 rally in support of Vermont Yankee, taking place near the plant.

At Atomic Power Review, Will Davis takes on the "Palisades Embrittlement" claims. His two-part post has real facts, as opposed to the unreal facts (a displaced atom in the crystal structure is a "microscopic hole"?) in the media.

At Nuclear Green, guest blogger NNadir describes the natural Oklo reactors. These were natural (not man-made) reactors that ran in Africa, moderated by water, quite a long time ago. Billions of years ago, actually. In 2 billion years, most of the fission products at Oklo migrated less than half the length of a football field. It's always nice when nature does the testing for us, isn't it? The Carnival includes a drawing of the Oklo reactors.

There's a lot on new technologies, including new technologies from the past. At the Energy from Thorium blog, Kirk Sorenson describes world-wide efforts to get thorium reactors in wider use. Do you know there's a parliamentary group in UK that is considering thorium? Rod Adams describes one way to stop needing so much oil...use nuclear power to convert coal to a liquid fuel. It's been done before, but we can do it better now (new technology from the past!) Steve Skutnik at Neutron Economy describes how small modular reactors can help...Iowa. Yes, Iowa. Iowa is heavily dependent on coal and very rural. SMRs could well be the answer (new technology from the past again!) At ANS Nuclear Cafe, Wesley Deason launches a series of posts on nuclear power for space exploration. At Next Big Future, Brian Wang describes the latest on GE's proposed laser uranium enrichment plant.

The Carnival includes world-wide nuclear news. Dan Yurman at ANS Nuclear Cafe follows the scandal in India, where Western NGOs, given money to help poor people in India, used the money to provide liquor and food to people who protest near the nuclear facilities. At Yurman's own blog, Idaho Samizdat, he reviews North Korea suspending its weapons program, and news from Iran, U K and South Africa. At Brave New Climate, Barry Brook asks how close did the Fukushima get to a really widespread nuclear disaster? Answer: not close at all. Meanwhile, at Next Big Future, Brian Wang does levelized cost comparison of nuclear, solar, and coal. Nuclear and solar costs depend on future costs of construction and financing. The cost of coal-fired power is controlled by commodity prices. Of course.

NEI Nuclear notes itself covered quite a few great topics, including the proposed Clean Energy Standard, the PBS Fukushima documentary, and tornadoes in the South. Come to the Carnival for great reading!

Oh yes, and if you are free on March 17, think about coming to the pro-Vermont Yankee rally!

Will Vermont Yankee be Replaced by Unicorns? Pictures of the Rally, and a Critique of the Vermont Energy Plan

The Rally

Thank you to Kay Trudell for the photos of the rally in support of Vermont Yankee this October! We just put an entire album of pictures on the Save Vermont Yankee Facebook page. These four pix are just a sample.

I couldn't resist putting in a picture of Howard Shaffer carrying a great sign

The Energy Plan for Unicorns

There's a new Vermont Energy Plan. It says that we are going to use 90% renewable energy by 2050. It says that we don't need Vermont Yankee, but we do need a new natural gas pipeline. That's the plan.

John McClaughry of Ethan Allen Institute has a great critique of the energy plan today at Vermont Tiger. McClaughry's title tells where Vermont's energy supply is heading: Unicorn Power for Vermont! Read it. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll laugh and cry, both at the same time. (Full disclosure: The Energy Education Project that I direct is part of the Ethan Allen Institute. John McClaughry is vice president of the Ethan Allen Institute.)

A Teen's View of Vermont Yankee

This letter to the editor appeared in the Brattleboro Reformer on November 4, 2011. Evan Twarog was kind enough to allow me to reprint it in this blog.

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A Teen’s view of Vermont Yankee

Editor of the Reformer:

Nuclear power ... Vermont Yankee ... all increasingly con­troversial topics today. But no matter what side of the aisle you rest on, if you live in Vermont or New Hampshire, you’ll be affected if Vermont Yankee closes. Do I know for sure what the future holds for Vermont? No, not me and certainly not anyone else. But I can take a look at the statistics to deter­mine what is most likely best for Vermont, and so can you. We all want what is best for Ver­mont, but we all have miscon­ceptions and it takes will-power to overcome them. If we all open our minds to listen to the other side of the argument, we will be in a much better position to make decisions. In order to be a true leader, you need to have the courage to do that.

My dad works at Vermont Yan­kee. I’m incredibly proud of him. He’s worked tirelessly to get to the position he has now. He is a shift manager, and is in charge of operations at the plant when he is on shift. He is an incredibly smart man, and he wouldn’t have moved his family to this region if he felt that VY was in any way dangerous. On top of working 12 hour days and being a terrific father, he runs the Keene Youth Lacrosse Program. Many other employees of the plant are actively involved in other organ­izations as well. I understand that you might have negative feelings about the plant, but just try to put yourself in my shoes. Maybe you’ll see that my dad’s not the monster the media and anti-VY groups make him and the other VY employees out to be.

I’ve always thought that good things happen to good people, but clearly life is not so simple. I’ve always given back to the community, pushed myself in school, and helped others. Every night my family wonders what we will do if VY does shut down. We have to live with the fact that if VY closes, we won’t have the life that we enjoy now. No one, let alone a kid should have to deal with that. My family’s story is only one story of more than 600.

I have done the research, and I truly believe that Vermont Yan­kee is not only safe, but it is a reliable and clean source of energy. It is a major employer, which our area needs desperate­ly in these tough economic times. I am proud to be part of the VY family.

Evan Twarog,

Keene, N.H., Oct. 31

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Evan Twarog appears in these two pictures of the Rally in support of Vermont Yankee on October 23. He is wearing a red jacket and appears with his mother and younger brother. I thank the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant Facebook page for allowing me to use these pictures.

The Rally: Links to Descriptions

The rally in support of Vermont Yankee went very well.

Here are some links to descriptions of it:

My post at ANS Nuclear Cafe.

The Rally for Vermont Yankee: At the Plant Gates During the Refueling Outage

Brattleboro Reformer article:

People Gather to Show Support for Nuclear Plant Employees

Commons article (Brattleboro paper) also reprinted in Vermont Digger:

Pro-Vermont Yankee Rally Shows Support for Plant Workers

Picture gallery at Vermont Yankee Facebook Page

Susan Smallheer had an excellent article in the Rutland Herald: Vermont Yankee Supporters Hold Rally. However, it is behind a paywall.

Rallies and Protests at the Vermont Yankee Plant

Tomorrow: A Rally For the Plant, At the Plant

Vermont Yankee is holding a refueling outage. They are moving ahead to keep that clean electricity flowing, despite the uncertainties of the court case. Many of us appreciate that, and we are holding a rally at the plant gates tomorrow afternoon, at 4:30 p.m., shift change. We want the people at the plant: regular employees, contract workers, and managers who made the decision to load fuel...to see we support them! More details in the previous post, which includes email addresses and phone numbers to reach the organizers: Howard Shaffer and me.

Retrospectives on the Morning Street Rally and the Evening Plant Rally of September 12

On the morning of September 12, the Entergy versus Shumlin/State of Vermont lawsuit began in at the Courthouse in Brattleboro. Early that morning, the Safe and Green Campaign held a vigil in front of the Court House, and several pro-nuclear groups held a rally. The pro-nuclear groups included the Energy Education Project of the Ethan Allen Institute, and the Vermont Pilot Project of the American Nuclear Society. I am director of the Energy Education Project, and I blogged extensively about our rally.

The Evening Puppet Show and Protest

The morning vigil and the rally were not the only activity on September 12, however. In the evening, at 6 p.m, the Clamshell Alliance held a protest at the gates of the plant in Vernon Vermont, a few miles from Brattleboro. The protest featured a Puppet parade, radical marching band, street theater and direct action.

At first, I read nothing about that protest in the press. On the evening of September 12, all the reporters who cover Vermont Yankee were busily filing their first-day-of-the-Federal-trial stories, not racing to the plant to see yet-another-opponent-demonstration.

The Aftermath

The evening protest did eventually get covered in the press. Obliquely.

During the September 12 protest at the plant, people parked across the street from the plant at the Vernon Elementary School. As the Brattleboro Reformer wrote on September 28: The Vernon School Board is weighing a new ordinance to prevent non-school related parking on the property after receiving several complaints following a recent protest against the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. Board members said Monday night that protesters, gathered at the plant’s gate just across the street from the school, were using the parking lot for unauthorized purposes.

On October 5, the protesters showed up in the press again. Susan Smallheer at the Rutland Herald (behind a paywall) wrote that (A) group of protesters, who were arrested for the first time at Vermont Yankee’s gates on Sept. 12, are due in court later this month. A call to the Vernon Police department revealed that the arrests were for trespassing on Vermont Yankee property.

Apparently, puppet shows and direct action lead to problems in the parking lot and arraignment in court. In my opinion, the parking ban will pose a bigger difficulty for the plant opponents than the trespassing charges.

Looking Forward

The Clamshell Alliance is going to be holding a rally at the plant on October 30. Here are notes from one of their recent planning meetings.

One of the points made at the Clamshell Alliance planning meeting: State of VT is an ally; don’t alienate with arrests

Oops.

Motive and Results for Vermont Yankee Rally: Guest Blog at ANS Nuclear Cafe

Today I was a guest blogger at ANS Nuclear Cafe. (ANS is the American Nuclear Society). I blogged about the pro-nuclear rally that we held earlier this month in Brattleboro.

When I blog for ANS Nuclear Cafe, I can be certain that most of the readers are in favor of nuclear energy, but that few of the readers are up-to-date on Vermont. So my ANS posts have a somewhat different slant. In this post, I wrote more about our motivation for the rally, and how we felt about it afterwards.

I hope my regular YesVY readers will enjoy my post on the ANS blog: Rally for Nuclear Power and Vermont Yankee.

The lower right-hand picture shows my husband, George T. Angwin, and Mary Daly, a recent candidate for the legislature. It's not the best picture of either of them, but it is the picture I have from the rally, so I thought I would include it here. For me, it brings back very good memories of that morning.

Rally Retrospective: On the Sidewalks for Vermont Yankee

This is an edited version of an article I wrote for True North Reports. The picture in that article was correctly critiqued by Rod Adams, so this version has a better picture. Pro-Vermont Yankee people on the right side of the picture, opponents on the left side.

Rally for Nuclear Power and Vermont Yankee

On Monday, September 12, the lawsuit between Vermont Yankee and the State of Vermont began at the federal courthouse in Brattleboro, Vermont. The "Safe and Green Campaign", an opponent group, announced they were holding a "silent vigil" in front of the Courthouse from 7:30 to 9 a.m. that day, just before the hearing started. The group had held a similar vigil in June, when the preliminary injunction hearings took place.

Nuclear energy has supporters, but they are seldom visible. The opponents organize marches, vigils, skits, demonstrations, and puppet shows. Some of us decided to hold a rally to help correct the visibility balance. Rally participants came from the Energy Education Project of the Ethan Allen Institute, the Vermont Pilot Project of the American Nuclear Society, and the Coalition for Energy Solutions.

Many people support nuclear, and by 7:30 a.m. there were about 25 of our group on the sidewalk in Brattleboro. We had decided to stand across the street from the Courthouse: we had several practical reasons. Where we stood, we weren't blocking the Courthouse steps. There was "no parking" on our side of the street, so our signs would be more visible.

Furthermore, when we arrived, a green pickup truck was already further down the block on our side of the street. It had several green VY4VT signs, and was driven by a representative of the Vermont Yankee union, the IBEW. The pick-up was not there by chance. We had asked if some people from IBEW might come, and they came to support us!

At first, there were more supporters than opponents. Most, but not all, of the opponents stood on the other side of the street, near the Courthouse. More and more opponents came as the morning wore on. By the time we left at 9 a.m., we were outnumbered, probably 60 to 25. However, we were still a big group and very visible. As we waved at the cars going by, we got many waves and "thumbs-up" from the drivers. One young woman who was walking by asked for a pro-Vermont Yankee sticker and she carefully attached it to her backpack. We had excellent signs, and white t-shirts saying "Nuclear Power Yes Please."

Our Policy: No Confrontation

I had briefed everyone before the rally about the opponent's love of "street theater." We had all agreed to walk away from any confrontation. We weren't there to argue. In general, things were calm, but not always. One of the opponents came to our side of the street, holding a large sign. He positioned himself on the street, standing in front of one of the women in our group, who was standing on the sidewalk. He held his sign up, and hid her from passing traffic. She objected, and told him he was being very rude. He said he was doing this because he loved democracy. Since she has served in the state house, this "love of democracy" business was not going over with her!

I dashed over and headed off the argument, allowing him the victory. However, a certain amount of escalation followed, with people from their side coming over and people from our side stepping into the street to remain visible. Eventually, the police told everybody to stay on the sidewalk! That was a good thing!

Interestingly, many of the opponents were carrying Vermont flags, "Supporting Vermont" in the lawsuit. One opponent had a sign, "State's Rights Trump Feds." (You can see the sign in the this video.) I was a young adult in the 1970s, and the sight of counter-culture demonstrators with state flags and "state's rights" signs made my head spin!

I also knew that some of the people waving Vermont flags lived in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. I live in Vermont, and I should have had a flag! After all, by supporting Vermont Yankee, I support clean air and a good economy for Vermont. I support Vermont!

Afterwards, some of us had breakfast together. We were a jolly and enthusiastic group, who felt we had made a difference. We had made nuclear supporters visible. People had honked and waved at us. We were a presence.

At breakfast, several people asked: "When are we going to do this again?"

To learn about our next event, contact meredith@ethanallen.org

The Vermont Yankee versus Vermont-Shumlin Trial: What's Next, and What Happened

What's Next

What is next is basically--a long wait. The trial at the Brattleboro Courthouse took three days, and was over on Wednesday. However, Smallheer at the Rutland Herald reports that the judge asked the attorneys to file briefs on the legal issues of waiver, estoppel and laches, as well as Act 248, the state law that regulates utilities. The attorneys have until September 26 to file answers to Judge Murtha's questions. (The Smallheer article is behind a paywall.)

The injunction hearings were June 23 and 24th in Brattleboro, and the judge ruled on July 18. That was about three weeks. The injunction ruling was a smaller ruling, and one that would not be tested by any sort of appeal process.

Most judges don't want to see their rulings overturned. In this case, both parties have said: "Whichever way it goes, we will appeal!" With that background, I suspect this will be a very carefully-written opinion. Everyone expects this ruling to take at least two months, if not longer. Early November? Thanksgiving? Christmas? Sometime in January?

What's next is....we wait.

What Happened: The Legal Points

Entergy basically had three major points within the court case.

1. Breach of contract. By passing Act 160, the legislature inserted itself into the Memorandum of Understanding between the state Public Service Board and Entergy. This changed and breached the contract, and basically invalidated it.
2. Pre-emption. Whatever the heck the legislature said about reliability, the only thing they looked at was safety, safety, safety. They never mentioned the plant's capacity factor, for example, but rather talked about the dangers of leaking tritium. Radiological safety is the legal business of the NRC and the federal government, not the state. The state was attempting to pre-empt an area reserved for federal rule-making.
3. Commerce clause. Legislators stated that they were not going to give a Certificate of Public Good to Vermont Yankee unless the plant sold power within Vermont at below-market rates. Since the plant sells power to three states (Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts), a requirement for better rates in-state violates the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution.

What Happened: What Was Said

Discussing what was said about these three areas is clearly more than one blog post worth of discussion! So, here's my quick summary, to be expanded in future days.

The State pounded on the Breach of contract issue. It claimed that Entergy had agreed to abide by Act 160, even though it now objects to the act. The State claims that Entergy should have sued immediately, or something like that. As a matter of fact, the words waiver, estoppel and laches are all about this. I heard that the State played a video of a forty-minute deposition by a former Entergy vice-president. In the video he talked about how Entergy needed to mend fences with the legislature. The State contended that this video shows that Entergy accepted their authority and the legislature's role in the Certificate process. The State also pushed the question of whether Entergy had brought the suit at the right time. (I blogged about this several months ago. I link to my blog post on the subject, which includes very interesting comments by Donald Kreis of Vermont Law School.)

Entergy stressed the Pre-Emption issue, pointing out all the times the legislature talked about radiological safety and then added the word "reliability" like some kind of fairy dust that would keep them safe from accusations of pre-emption. Entergy also noted the many things the state never considered: capacity factor, turbine and other non-safety inspections, etc. The state responded that they only mentioned safety to be sure they weren't mentioning safety, that they were still on appropriate state-controlled ground.

(Stepping out of reporter role here: Yeah, right. I sat in hearings where legislators said in a very jolly tone of voice "You know we can't use the s-word." So they used the r-word for s-word concepts. I saw Shumlin talking about how radioactive leaks from this aging plant would affect the teeth of children in Vermont. Gimme a break. It was safety, safety, safety.)

In early parts of the trial, the Entergy brought up the issue of the Commerce Clause. Entergy showed that the legislators told them that Entergy would not be granted Certificate of Public Good unless they sold power at below market rates to Vermont utilities. Trying to enforce a better deal for your own state (of a commodity that is sold to several states) violates the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. This was discussed by Entergy's attorney, but I don't think it went anywhere within the context of the trial. But I am not sure.

Conclusions

Oh, I know I should have some conclusions. I don't.

I think it is all very much still up in the air. For further information, I recommend Olga Peterson's articles in the Commons and Vermont Digger, and the relatively sparse articles in the Vermont Law School blog about the lawsuit. For a quick overview, Pat Bradley at WAMC in Plattsburgh New York did a great 4-minute radio segment on the trial. (Full disclosure: Bradley quotes many people, including me.)

At the end of the radio segment, you can hear Cheryl Hanna of Vermont Law School explaining that the outcome is still up in the air.

More analysis to come in the future!

About the pictures: This post has photos of the September 12 rally; the photos were taken by Milo Shaefer. The upper picture shows both sides of the street in Brattleboro, shortly before court convened. Plant supporters are mostly to the right, plant opponents to the left. The lower picture shows plant supporters, with one plant opponent (wearing black) in the middle. You can click on the pictures to make them larger.

In the earlier post about the rally, the photos were by Bob Hargraves. I am very grateful to Milo and Bob for participating in the rally and taking these great pictures!

Rally for Nuclear Power and Vermont Yankee

The Rally in front of the courthouse yesterday was a lot of fun! Here's the press release that announced it.

It was fun because there were so many of us, and we were so visible, and we supported each other.

We had about twenty-five people there: there were twenty on the sign-up list, and they all came and some brought friends. The Rally started at 7:30, and we had more people out there than the opponents did, by far. At 7:30. By 9, when court opened and we left, they had more people, but we were still a very major presence.

Note the T-shirts. Note the truck, driven down by one of the men from the plant, representing IBEW. Great platform for us. Note some of the opponents standing in front of the truck. (They didn't make much headway where we were standing, and tended to go away after a while. They were in full force across the street.) Yeah, there is a picture with me in it, and a picture of Robbie Leppzer, the documentary maker, taking pix of us. Also, the blue banners are Vermont flags. The opponents carried them to show that they "support Vermont" in the lawsuit. Since we support Vermont, too, (though not in this lawsuit), I have wondered if we should have also "wrapped ourselves in the flag", as it were. Well, lessons for next time!

Our Handouts

We had a neat tri-fold brochure and a set of FAQs about Vermont Yankee. They are posted at the Energy Education Project website of the Ethan Allen Institute. George Angwin and Richard Schmidt were the main authors.

The Trial

For updates on the trial, I recommend the Vermont Law School blog. They are live-blogging the trial.

End note: I apologize for the formatting. I have never added this many pix to a blog post, and I am running out of time to make the formatting better.

Rally in Support of Nuclear Power and Vermont Yankee

Rally in Support of Nuclear Power

For Immediate Release:

Contact Meredith Angwin

Meredith@ethanallen.org

802-291-9172

Early in the morning of September 12, local supporters of nuclear energy will rally near the Brattleboro Courthouse to show support for continued operation of Vermont Yankee power plant. At 9 a.m. that morning, hearings will begin in Federal Court on the lawsuit between the State of Vermont and Entergy. Among other things, Entergy contends that Vermont has attempted to regulate the radiological safety of Vermont Yankee, in direct defiance of federal law.

A group of people supporting nuclear power will be near the Courthouse that morning. The group includes members of the Ethan Allen Institute Energy Education Project, the American Nuclear Society Vermont Pilot Project, and the Coalition for Energy Solutions. We will be there to support continued operation of Vermont Yankee power plant, a plant that produces one-third of Vermont’s electricity with virtually no emissions. Many of the members of our group have advanced degrees in engineering, chemistry and physics. We will be happy to answer questions about nuclear energy. However, we are not there to argue with dedicated nuclear opponents. We will avoid confrontations and name-calling, which are both unfortunate tactics of some plant opponents.

This rally is not planned by Entergy or sponsored by Entergy. However, any Entergy employees who decide to join us are very welcome.

Participants will include:

• Meredith Angwin, director of the Energy Education Project of the Ethan Allen Institute
• Dr. Robert Hargraves, energy educator at Dartmouth ILEAD and advanced reactor specialist
• Willem Post, well-known energy commentator on The Energy Collective: conservation advocate and wind critic
• Richard Schmidt, nuclear engineer and advocate for small-scale solar

All these people will be available for on-site interviews.

http://www.energyeai.org/

http://www.coalitionforenergysolutions.org/

http://ansnuclearcafe.org/2011/08/08/old-tactics-new-approaches/

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This is a press release I sent to friends and to Vermont media yesterday. I look forward to seeing people at the rally!

I am trying to get a headcount. If you are coming to the rally, I would appreciate an email. Also, I can tell you a little more about our plans in a return email. Meredith@ethanallen.org

Nuclear opponents have all sorts of rallies: it is about time that pro-nuclear people had some!

Also, a big thanks to Rick Maltese at Deregulate the Atom, for posting the press release at his website.

Map from United States District Court website As usual, click to see a larger image.

How We Can Win in Montpelier

In theory, our Vermont legislators shouldn't give a darn about most of the walkers, because they don't vote in Vermont. In fact, with all five Vermont Democrat gubernatorial contenders declaring against Yankee, the legislators will be paying attention. We must be sure that our voices are also heard.

The Vermont State House, Montpelier, Wednesday January 13, 2010, noon to four p.m.

What can we do? Well, some of us can go to the legislature that day, hopefully with signs in support of Vermont Yankee. Among other things, it will be a great way to meet me, your faithful blogger. I will be the extremely beautiful older woman with a sign: Yes Vermont Yankee. Okay, easy to recognize.

Here's a map for parking in Montpelier.

(Look, if the anti-s can stage a fake debate, I can tell you I am beautiful. At least the sign will be recognizable.)

If you can't come then write your legislator. If you haven't got a legislator because you don't live in Vermont, write anyway. Most of the walkers come from out of state, after all.

To write your legislator (or somebody's legislator) go this website for the legislative listings. The directories contain email addresses. The committee lists and the district list contain names, which must be cross-referenced to the directories. If you don't have a representative and want to write someone, email one of the members of the committees on Natural Resources and Energy.

Let's have a presence as this fight begins.