Vermont Yankee Power Struggle: Radio Forum on April 24th

Richard Schmidt and I will be on a radio show about Vermont Yankee on Tuesday morning next week. There will be two people in favor of the plant (Richard and I) and two who are opposed to its continued operation. The two opponents are a long-time opponent, Michael Daley, and a trainer with the American Friends Service Committee, Jeff Napolitano. I have met neither of them. A slightly edited version of the announcement is below. We will be broadcasting from Northampton, MA.

A link to a guest post by Richard Schmidt about strontium in fish.

---------

The goal of the radio program is to focus on the issues surrounding the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, including the current court battle regarding licensing between VT Yankee and the State of Vermont, safety issues, environmental concerns, economic/employment issues, as well as energy supply matters.

The program will be live, and also recorded for a podcast at WHMP.com, which you can feel free to link to. Excerpts from the program will also be used in WHMP newscasts. Questions from callers and/or those in attendance at Sylvester’s will be entertained.

The forum will be a live, two hour broadcast on WHMP Radio with frequencies at AM1400/1240/1600 and FM96.9, covering the Northampton, Greenfield, and Springfield radio markets. The broadcast will take place from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Tuesday, April 24th from Sylvester’s Restaurant at 111 Pleasant St. in downtown Northampton. http://www.sylvestersrestaurant.com.

The hosts of the program will be WHMP staffers:

• Bob Flaherty, Morning Show host
• Denise Vozella, News Director
• Bill Newman, Host of the Bill Newman Show (9 a.m. talk show)
• Mary Serreze, Reporter for WHMP and Northamptonmedia.com.

Panelists for this program will be:

• Meredith Angwin, Member of the American Nuclear Society, Nuclear energy expert, Blogger for Yes Vermont Yankee. http://yesvy.blogspot.com/
• Richard Schmidt, Chemical and Nuclear Engineer, resident of Westmoreland, NH
• Michael Daley, lifelong opponent of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant and a clean energy advocate. He lives in a solar-powered home in Westminster West, Vt.
• Jeff Napolitano, Director of the American Friends Service Committee in Western Mass, which hosts the Nuclear Free Coalition, and trainer for the anti-nuclear SAGE Alliance.

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.

What We Need to Do

My husband and I drove past the Anti-VY walkers yesterday morning. "Gee, there aren't many of them," he noted. So true.

To shut down Vermont Yankee, fifteen to twenty people are walking the whole way from Brattleboro to Montpelier, and others are joining them at various points. We only saw about a dozen people walking yesterday.

Let's assume, though, that there are twenty dedicated walkers. At the potluck Thursday night, I learned that half the walkers come from Massachusetts, a quarter from New Hampshire and a quarter from Vermont.

Do the math. That's five people from Vermont. This is how they plan to impress the Vermont legislature? They also claim to be carrying a petition with 1600 signatures. Again from the tri-state area, in the same proportions, no doubt. Probably 400 signatures from Vermont. Less than the number of people who work at Yankee.

In other words, a bunch of outsiders are planning to march into Vermont's capitol, roar around, and influence our elected representatives. It is difficult enough that Vermont is the only state that lets the legislature have a hand in nuclear licensing. But why are we letting people from Massachusetts vote about it by petitioning and demonstrating in our legislature?

Their numbers are small, and with a little effort, we can beat them.

They are going to be at the State House noon to four p.m. on Wednesday, January 13. We will be there too.

Either in person, or by email. Read the next post to find out how.