Supreme Court upholds sale of Vt. nuclear plant

Burlington Free Press, July 26, 2003

By Anne Wallace Allen
The Associated Press

MONTPELIER -- The Vermont Supreme Court on Friday upheld the sale of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant.

The anti-nuclear New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution had wanted the Public Service Board to take another look at the sale of the Vernon reactor.

But the court affirmed the board's ruling that allowed the sale to go ahead.

"When reviewing the PSB's interpretation of a statute within its particular expertise, we look for a compelling indication of error, and in its absence, we will uphold the PSB's decision," the justices said.

The PSB last year approved the sale of Vermont Yankee, Vermont 's only nuclear power plant, to Entergy Nuclear Corp. of Jackson , Miss. , for $180 million. Vermont Yankee is Vermont 's largest electric generation station.

The coalition lawyers had argued before the court that the PSB should have required more regulatory examination.

Specifically, they argued the sale, completed last summer, should have been tested for approval under a state law known as Section 248, in which the board examines environmental and economic impacts of proposed power plants, weighs whether the need for the power they would produce outweighs any negative impacts, and, if approval is granted, issues a certificate before site preparation and construction of the plant begin.

The PSB had ruled the law wasn't applicable.

The justices agreed, noting, among other things, that no new construction was called for in the sale of the plant.

"The statute's triggering conditions are not present under the facts of the transaction here because the purchase and sale agreement does not call for any construction," the justices wrote.