2007 Year in Review: Business

Friday December 28, 2007

Colchester, VT

(Host) We return to our review of the top stories of 2007.

(Delaney) But nuclear power skeptics said the incident was just one more crack in Vermont Yankee's claim that all is well at the old plant, in spite of a 20 percent boost in power output last year. Among the critics, James Moore of VPIRG, the Vermont Public Interest Research Group.

(Moore) "This incident calls into question all of the claims that Entergy Nuclear has made about the plant's clean bill of health, and that it's operating like new.''

(Delaney) The revived argument over safety at Vermont Yankee would sputter along for months, and at year's end the NRC scolded the company over the tower collapse. But the effort to secure a 20-year license extension goes on.

Read full story

VPIRG argues for Vermont Yankee tax

December 12, 2007

MONTPELIER – The Vermont Public Interest Research Group, which advocates for more renewable energy production in the state and greater investment in efficiency, is urging lawmakers to increase taxes on the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant.

According to a new VPIRG report Tuesday, the nuclear plant pays less in taxes per kilowatt hour of electricity produced toward education than other power producers, including renewable power generators. That favors the nuclear plant over generation of sources like wind and solar, according to those who wrote the VPIRG report.

Read full article
Read VPIRG report

Report: Nuclear power paying less in tax

December 12, 2007

MONTPELIER -- The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant pays significantly less in state education taxes than generators of other kinds of electric power, according to a report issued Tuesday by a renewable energy advocate.

The Vermont Public Interest Research Group examined the taxes paid by nuclear, wood, hydro and wind power generators, and discovered that the lone generator of commercial-scale wind paid 10 times as much as nuclear. Hydro generators paid five times as much, and wood generators paid three times as much, the report says.

Read full article
Read VPIRG report

VPIRG Says Vermont Yankee Should Pay More

Montpelier, Vermont - December 11, 2007

An advocacy group says the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon is not paying its fair share of taxes to the state.

Vermont Public Interest Research Group conducted a study comparing property taxes paid to the kilowatt hours generated by more than forty electric generating facilities in Vermont. VPIRG argues that Yankee's tax per kilowatt hour ratio is significantly lower than the rate paid by wind, hydro, and wood generating facilities. The research group believes that a generation-based tax would level the playing field -- by requiring all generators to pay similar rates.

Read full article
Read VPIRG report

Extreme Downpours More Likely, Report Says

December 7, 2007

In April, hundreds of New Hampshire residents fled their homes as heavy rains swelled rivers across the southern part of the state, causing the kind of flooding forecasters say might be expected just once in a century.

For many, it was history repeating itself: Their homes had been swamped in a similar "hundred-year flood" less than 12 months before.

Now a study of historical records says storms producing the kind of extreme precipitation that caused those floods have become more common all over the country in the last 60 years — and nowhere more than in New England.

"We're already seeing what climate scientists say is going to happen if we continue to pump global warming pollution into the atmosphere," said James Moore of Vermont Public Interest Research Group, one of the Environment America state affiliates participating in the report.

Read full article

Read VPIRG report

Catamount Health off to a good start, says VPIRG

December 6, 2007

The Vermont Public Interest Research Group has been a frequent and loud critic of Gov. James Douglas. But the Douglas administration has done fairly well jump starting the new Catamount Health program designed to cover those Vermonters without health insurance, according to the group.

"Overall the initial development and implementation of Catamount Health has been successful," concludes a VPIRG report expected to be released today.

Read full article
Read Catamount report

Consumer advocates concerned about wireless swap

Wednesday December 5, 2007

(Host) State consumer advocates say they have concerns about a plan by AT&T to acquire a large piece of Unicel's wireless phone service in Vermont. The AT&T acquisition is part of a major re-shuffling of cell phone providers in the state. VPR's John Dillon has more.

Read full story

AT&T to acquire much of Unicel's service in Vt.

December 5, 2007

AT&T Inc. will acquire a significant portion of Unicel's cell phone service in Vermont under a swap of wireless assets with Verizon Wireless, AT&T announced Tuesday.

Verizon Wireless is in the process of acquiring Unicel for $2.67 billion but has agreed to spin off Unicel's overlapping territory in Vermont to satisfy regulators and critics of the deal.

Tuesday's announcement did little to alleviate those concerns.

"Certainly AT&T is another corporation with vast assets and that could be a good thing in terms of future competition in the state," said Paul Burns, executive director of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group.

But Burns said even with AT&T's announcement there remain unresolved issues, including a commitment on the part of Verizon Wireless and AT&T to expand cell phone service in the state.

"I think now we have a situation...

Read full article

‘Extreme’ storms increase in state, report says

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

The old saying turns out to be truer every day: When it rains, it pours.

Vermont is experiencing more and more storms that drop “extreme” amounts of rain or snow, according to an analysis of 59 years of weather records by a national coalition of environmental groups.

“This is the kind of downpour that hurts farmers instead of helping them. It’s the kind of torrent that washes away carefully groomed ski hills,” said Bill McKibben, an author, climate crusader and scholar-in-residence at Middlebury College.

McKibben appeared at a news conference called by the Vermont Public Interest Research Group to release the report and urge faster action on curbing the carbon emissions blamed for global climate change.

Read full article
Read VPIRG report

VPIRG says severe storms are caused by climate change

Wednesday December 5, 2007

Montpelier, VT

(Host) Vermont environmental activists say New England is experiencing more frequent bouts of severe weather - and that climate change is to blame. The report was released by the Vermont Public Interest Research Group. It says that the number of storms with heavy rain or snow fall are now 61 percent more frequent than they were 60 years ago.

Read full story
Read VPIRG report

Report Says Intense Storms On The Rise

December 4, 2007

MONTPELIER, Vt. -- A new report from the Vermont Public Research Interest Group (VPIRG) says the number of intense storms hitting our region is rising. The report, titled "When It Rains, It Pours," found the number of extreme rain and snowstorms has risen by more than 50 percent in New York and Vermont over the last 60 years. It says the cause is global warming.

Read full story
Read VPIRG report