Vermont has only days to decide Vermont Yankee appeal

* Entergy wants reactor to run until 2032
* Entergy seeking $4.6 million in legal costs
* Vermont Public Service Board to decide reactor fate

By Scott DiSavino
Feb 17 (Reuters) - Vermont's Attorney General must
decide by Feb. 21 whether to appeal a federal judge's ruling in
January that blocked Vermont from shutting the state's only
nuclear power reactor.
U.S. District Court Judge J. Garvan Murtha of the U.S.
District Court in Vermont ruled on Jan. 19 that federal law
preempted a state law that would have shut the 40-year old plant
in March.
The parties had 30 days to appeal the judge's ruling.
Since Judge Murtha's decision, New Orleans-based power
company Entergy Corp, the second biggest nuclear power
operator in the United States and owner of Vermont Yankee, filed
with the Vermont Public Service Board (PSB) for a certificate of
public good to keep the 620-megawatt reactor operating for
another 20 years.
Judge Murtha blocked the state from shutting the reactor
before March 21, when the plant's original federal operating
license expired, but required Entergy to seek the certificate of
public good from the Board.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) last year
extended Vermont Yankee's original 40-year operating license for
another 20 years until 2032.
The Public Service Board has scheduled a status conference
on the Vermont Yankee case for March 9, according to state
utility regulators.
In addition to the filing at the Public Service Board,
Entergy also filed with the federal court in early February to
recover $4.6 million from Vermont to cover the company's
attorney fees related to the lawsuit.
Earlier this week, Judge Murtha granted Vermont's request
for more time to file a response to Entergy's request to recover
the legal fees and told the state to file a response on or
before March 9. That was the last filing in the case docket.
Officials at Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell's
office were not immediately available to say whether the state
would appeal Judge Murtha's Jan. 19 decision blocking the state
from shutting the reactor.
Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin wanted Vermont Yankee to shut
in March. Entergy wanted to keep the reactor running until 2032
under its new federal operating license.

BACK TO THE BOARD
In its filing with the Public Service Board, Entergy said
the Board already "has a fully sufficient record, without taking
any additional evidence, to issue a decision either amending the
existing certificate of public good or issuing a new one to
authorize operation of Vermont Yankee for twenty years."
Entergy originally filed with the Board for a certificate of
public good in 2008 and hearings were held in 2009 before the
state senate voted in 2010 to stop the Board from deciding on
the certificate.
The Public Service Board is a quasi judicial board that
supervises rates, quality of service and financial management of
the state's utilities, including Vermont Yankee.
In his Jan. 19 decision, Judge Murtha ruled the state laws
were preempted by the Federal Atomic Energy Act because the
state laws were enacted with radiological safety concerns in
mind. The safety of nuclear power is a federal issue, not a
state issue.
One state act required legislative approval for continued
operation of the plant after March 21, 2012 before the Public
Service Board could decide to grant a certificate of public
good.
In February 2010, the Vermont Senate, then headed by now
Governor Shumlin, voted 26-4 against authorizing the Public
Service Board to issue the certificate of public good.

VERMONT IS UNIQUE
Vermont is the only state in the nation with the authority
to shut a nuclear plant.
The state gained that right in 2002 when Entergy bought the
plant from New England utilities and agreed to seek a new
certificate of public good if it decided to run the plant beyond
March 2012 when its first license expired.
Other states like New York are keen to have that kind of
power over the state's nuclear plants.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo wants to shut Entergy's
2,063-MW Indian Point plant in part because it is located within
the heavily populated New York metropolitan area just 45 miles
north of Manhattan.
Entergy meanwhile wants to run the two reactors at Indian
Point for another 20 years after their federal operating
licenses expire in 2013 and 2015.
Separately, there is at least one other federal lawsuit
outstanding on Vermont Yankee.
In late 2011, Vermont filed suit in the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia against the NRC to overturn
the agency's decision to relicense Vermont Yankee for another 20
years. The state argued the plant did not have a valid water
permit.
The NRC however has argued the plant did have a valid water
permit and the state had plenty of time to raise the water issue
during the five-year relicensing process but did not do so until
after the agency had already granted the new license.