By a margin of 26 to 4 the Senate voted to retire the aging Vermont Yankee nuclear plant as scheduled. This historic vote marks the first time a state legislature has been able to deny a nuclear plant a 20-year life extension. Find out how your senators voted here.
Literally thousands of Vermonters contacted their legislators in lead up to this vote expressing concern about the reliability of the plant and lack of trust in its out-of-state corporate owners. Vermonters spoke out in hundreds of letters to the editor in papers across the state. And on the day of the vote, braving one of the few snowstorms this winter, more than 250 Vermonters crowded the State House to witness this historic moment. Click here to see the day in photos.
In the weeks leading up to this vote, our efforts have gained national and even international attention. Click here to see a collection of links to the extensive media coverage in this issue outside of Vermont.
This monumental effort would not have been successful without the dedication and support from key coalition partners. Our sincerest thanks go out to:
Citizens Awareness NetworkConservation Law FoundationCredo ActionDemocracy for AmericaGreenpeaceNuclear Free VermontSafe and GreenSierra Club of Vermont and New HampshireToxics Action CenterTrue MajorityVermont League of Conservation VotersVermont Natural Resources CouncilVermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance
Most of all, our thanks to the thousands of Vermonters who got involved and made the voice of Vermonters a loud roar that drown out the corporate lobbyists and in the end helped democracy work.
But don’t think that this is over. We know that Entergy is not going to take defeat sitting down. They’re going to pull out all the tricks in the book to try and overturn this victory and circumvent the will of Vermonters. That’s why we need to get the House to vote to close VY as well. Their vote to close Vermont Yankee will help secure our victory so that Vermont can get down to business and build our clean energy future.
