(This definitely sounds like something we don’t want to ignore. – promoted by JulieWaters)

Obama’s Energy Secretary Chu’s support for new nuclear power is making waves among several companies competing for DOE loans to build new nukes. Chu has said he will move quickly to get the loan guarantee program up and running this year.As we move to the green side on some items in the stimulus bill,on another front Obama follows what for all the world looks like a small part of the Cheney energy task force recommendations.

Some funds previously designated and not from the stimulus package will be used for loan guarantees to build new nuclear power plants .Major green energy-related portions of the stimulus law were largely left intact and large portions proposed for nuclear power were cut after Congressional debate,but new nuclear power plant planning and funding still grinds along.We are still propping them up.

There’s more . . .

Regarding the storage of spent fuel someone present with Secretary Chu,at a meeting concerning permitting Yucca Mountain storage facility is quoted as saying “It sounded like the expectation is (nuclear waste) will be stored at sites for a long time,” said one participant who asked not to be identified since it was a private meeting. Giving a post 9/11 nod to security concerns Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Wednesday Nuclear power plants will likely add fortifications to future atomic power stations despite the cost involved ,according to CNN. Nothing was mentioned about how this new safety concern may effect old plants still in use.

The field of U.S. companies competing for $18.5 billion in government-backed loans to build new nuclear plants has narrowed to five from about 14 last year, company sources said

Last year, developers of 14 new nuclear plants requested DOE guarantees totaling $122 billion, far exceeding the program’s budget, the agency said. Several companies dropped out of the running in December, leaving at least 10 projects seeking federal support. The DOE process will determine which new reactors get built and only two or three will be built .

Federal loan guarantees are expected to jump-start interest in building new reactors, after massive cost overruns during the last nuclear boom and the 1979 Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania left utilities hesitant to build new plants.

With a cost of $5 billion to $12 billion for each new reactor, depending on size and design, the DOE program is expected to fund only a few projects, but the guarantee is seen as critical to obtaining financing.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/break…

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1112…

http://www.reuters.com/article…

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/af…

The leak that started Jan .7 is still leaking.  It is a 4″ steam pipe coming out of the reactor core.But the spinners spin the situation as naturally being under control and the NRC’s Sheehan as always makes it sound almost routine. Nothing to see here.Worth noting that in the last dog and pony publicity tour Yankee had through the plant as part of it’s image fluff-up no reporters were allowed . Jay Thayer Entergy VP said recently “We’re trying to bring a lot of the nuclear material down to a reading level where it will be understood by lay people and the general public,” Well most if not all lay people will understand leaky valve and unable to repair.

After two attempts, maintenance personnel at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant have been unable to plug a leak in a pipe coming out of the reactor core. The leak was discovered on Jan. 7 in a valve gasket in a pipe in the plant’s reactor water clean up system. The leak rate of less than one-tenth of a gallon a minute is well within the plant’s technical specifications, he said, and is in the form of a steam plume. The leaky valve is in a four-inch pipe.

Ultra Light flexible non-restrictive ,regulating courtesy of the NRC

One option would be to power down the plant and install a replacement valve. Or it can continue to operate until the next scheduled or unscheduled outage and replace the valve then. Flexible ,regulating “The plant can continue to operate with the leakage for the time being,” said NRC’s Sheehan. “The leakage is being collected and then cleaned up.”

http://www.reformer.com/localnews/ci_11704641

Six years ago in 2003 Governor Douglas  declared “After more than a decade of discussion we can, and we must, act now.” Now  State Commerce Secretary Kevin Dorn says he wishes the environmental groups would stop drawing attention to  a book by Peter Greenberg.

The book in question is “Don’t Go There!: The Travel Detective’s Essential Guide to the Must-Miss Places of the World.” in which he states

“In 1999, two dogs died after ingesting Lake Champlain’s blue-green algae-covered water. How bad is that? … The water often looks cloudy and green and smells foul, due to algae blooms, and the depletion of the lake oxygen has affected fish … Beaches along the lake are frequently closed in order to safeguard human and animal health ….”

But wait there is more.Another group Secretary Dorn may wish would stop talking about he condition of the lake may be the press release from the U.S. Geological Survey(USGS) that states  

A variety of man-made chemicals has been found in the streams and wastewaters that discharge into Lake Champlain. The chemicals found include pesticides, fire retardants, fragrances, detergent degradates, and caffeine. The chemicals were found at extremely low concentrations, measuring a few parts per billion. The concentrations were highest in waters released by sewage treatment plants, combined sewer overflows and small urban streams. The lowest concentrations were in larger rivers, an undeveloped stream, and the lake.

Although the concentrations were low, the significance of such a mixture in the environment is unknown. How these chemicals affect fish and human health at the levels found is not well understood and an area of ongoing research.

All this on the heals of this summer’s EPA report stating that the Vermont must do a better job in its clean-up efforts.This report caused an unusually angry response from the Governor and the EPA later backed off slightly perhaps under pressure .

http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/a…

http://www.burlingtonfreepress…

http://governor.vermont.gov/to…

The stinkin’ truth on the lake

The Free Press Outdoor column weighs in on the Lake or as the articles title says the stinkin’ truth .Fisherman are right on the frontline line and see the living prove of a troubled lake . The Governor’s cheerleading rings more and more hollow as he tries to find a way to squirm his way off this hook .

Is Champlain a disaster? Well, maybe not yet, but if we use Champlain’s fish populations as our litmus test, something is surely amiss. And it does seem to be getting worse.

We catch pike with these huge, ugly growths (lymphosarcoma) and we’re bracing for the arrival of the fish-killing VHS disease, which, we’ve been glumly assured, will be here before you know it.

The fishing can be good — no doubt about it — but there’s a strange feel on Lake Champlain these days, as if nature is seriously whacked and careening in the wrong direction from which there will be no return.

I have no idea whether Greenberg is a fisherman, but as far a truth-sayer? Well, he ain’t far off.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress…

What is this all about ? No  pies were sighted in the crowd ?Who judges the “threat” level ?

Sergeant-at-Arms Francis Brooks, a former Montpelier lawmaker, is in charge of security at the Statehouse. He said Tuesday that there was no specific threat, but that he felt the heightened security was necessary because of the size of the protest group.

“A lot of people were coming, including some we don’t know,” Brooks said.

While the crowd was large Tuesday, there were no signs of violence. Security officials told members of the media not to photograph their faces as camera crews recorded the protestors move inside the building.

The security scene at the Statehouse was similar to occasions when Douglas would address the Vermont Legislature, such as his budget address last month. But it was vastly different than the same-sex marriage protest at the Statehouse last week, which attracted a crowd roughly twice as large.

“They shouldn’t be punished for their passion,” said Allen Gilbert, the executive director of the Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. “Visitors to the Statehouse shouldn’t be treated differently just because they are new faces.”

http://www.timesargus.com/arti…

The Vermont Federal Recovery Office will be a single point of contact to coordinate recovery projects within the State of Vermont. The Office will be located within the Agency of Administration.Governor Douglas named as head of this office Jim Bush, the current Assistant Director of Program Development at the Agency of Transportation. Bush is a registered professional engineer in and has worked for the State of Vermont since 2004 following 35 years of service at the Federal Highway Administration.

It might be a good time to get out in front of what the plans are(shovel ready) ,as there is a large amount of money coming to Vermont which will be run through this new office of the governor’s. Even in its senate reduced size any state stabilization funds will be a large amount of money coming in.There is no reason now not think this money will be well spent but how,why and where this money is spent will be something to follow closely from the get go.The city of Burlington has available online many of it’s potential programs.How about a little transparency such as that with this new recovery office. Especially after the surprise revelation from the Herald/Argus that Governor Jim Douglas has morphed into a “radical conservative ” Republican.

How states have handled the influx of federal dollars will certainly be an issue during the campaigns.

The responsibilities of the governors’ stimulus “czars” or commissions vary, but their main job will be to work with local and state governments and community and business groups to make sure projects are selected in a fair and open process and deserve to get the federal funds.

On the Republican governors’ side, Vermont has created a Vermont Federal Recovery Office “to expedite projects when federal funds are received,” Republican Gov. Jim Douglas, vice-chairman of the National Governors Association, said when announcing the office.

http://www.stateline.org/live/…

Find a friend .Jason Gibbs,Governor Douglas’s Eagle Scout and new head of Vt.State Parks, overreached and got kicked off of Facebook .They didn’t look kindly on his spamming individuals to “become supporters of the state parks ” So much for his diversity of outreach activities skills.

Gibbs explains that he sent messages to his Facebook friends to encourage them to become “supporters of the state parks.” That was a violation of the Facebook’s anti-spamming rules, he was told in a message from Facebook, and he was thus suspended from the Facebook world.

Gibbs said he has asked the Facebook people when can he get back on. He’s awaiting word.

Meanwhile, his wife has launched a petition drive to restore him to Facebook.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress…

The new Entergy Yankee PR campaign has it’s work cut out .Rep. Tony Klein, D-East Montpelier,may be holding Entergy Yankee’s feet to the fire on the issue of the decommissioning fund .It is reassuring to read of a legislator proposing something that will take Yankee to task for not following its original agreements,before it is too late .An action like this coupled with the statewide publicity that could surround the discussion of Yankee’s future  at 40 + towns on Town Meeting day may complicate the new PR job

………. Rep. Tony Klein, D-East Montpelier

said Thursday that the company should be required to stock up its trust fund to begin immediate shutdown at the facility if lawmakers or the Nuclear Regulatory Commission orders it to do so in three years.

Entergy has less than half of the necessary funds in the account right now to shut down the plant and clean up the site. Since buying the facility in 2002, the company has not added any money to the fund.

The new arrival in Vermont,Entergy’s Vice President,for something,Jay Thayer makes this curious claim  “the original agreement with Vermont regulators when they purchased Vermont Yankee in 2002 was that the company could use the so-called “safe storage” approach to decommissioning.”



Douglas’s man at the Vermont Public Service board O’Brien stands up for Entergy and kicks the deadline far down the road into the future “Our position is that the fund should be capable of decommissioning the plant by 2032,” .

http://www.timesargus.com/arti…

Something old could be new again .Democrats are breaking out of the Douglas budgets cuts only mindset and finding alternatives .This one is particularly interesting because of it’s pedigree.Douglas keeps repeating that raising taxes during a recession will make it deeper and longer yet in 1991 this in combination with other actions was the bi-partisan form of dealing with that financial crisis. I don’t know if Douglas actually supported this action back in 1991 or not.It would be an interesting turn of events for Douglas to have to veto this if it moves forward and comes to that .  

MONTPELIER – A Democratic lawmaker wants to revive the income tax increase that the late Republican Gov. Richard Snelling persuaded lawmakers to enact to help the state cope with a 1991 financial crisis.

Rep. Michael Fisher’s call for consideration of new revenues to help solve the state’s financial crisis comes as the current governor and Legislature have learned that revenues declined precipitously in January – down about $13 million more than economists projected just a few weeks ago.

The plan Fisher resurrected would raise about $40 million, he said. “I’m calling it the Snelling surcharge because it’s not really my idea,” Fisher of Lincoln said. “The bill is really identical to what Snelling did in 1991.”



The legislation would impose a 3-percent surcharge on incomes between $46,700 and $171,950, 6 percent on incomes between $171,500 and $307,050 and 9 percent above $307,050. Fisher offered examples of the tax that would be added: An individual making $46,700 would pay an extra $50. A couple with the same income would pay $66. An individual earning $70,000 would pay $92.

Governor’s Douglas spokesperson responds “For lawmakers to try to apply an 18-year-old patch over a current crisis is really ignoring the uniqueness of this economic downturn,” Dennise Casey said. “It is irresponsible to ask more from Vermonters when they are earning less – especially when we know there are areas of state government that regardless of the economic downturn are growing at unsustainable levels.”

http://www.burlingtonfreepress…

The Rutland Herald reported and today the Free Press follows with news of the gathering storm in diary farm business.Prices per hundred weight have dropped 30% from last year at this time .Last month 11 farms failed .The dangers of the situation were recognized at UVM’s farm extension service and they established a telephone crisis line for stressed farmers.It is noted that two struggling farmers in California committed suicide during a period of financial stress.  

Once again the crack team of Douglas administrators have taken notice,sat up ,shrugged and are doing little if anything. According to the Sec.of Agriculture the best hope is to wait for the federal stimulus package .

No new ideas,no innovative emergency plans were reported .Last week we had multiple complaints from republicans about others executive salaries, makes me wonder what they are doing to earn theirs .At least they didn’t offer the Dept of Labor’s telephone game show format for the stress hotline.Multiple failures of diary farms will have a dynamic effect on character of the state,someday someone may wish they had done something.We are real concerned.

Officials said Thursday there’s little the state can do, in the short term at least, to resolve the mess.…”‘Send money now’ would be the best thing, but there isn’t any money to send,so we’re trying to find ways to decrease the cost side for farmers and find a way for them to get through this,” Diane Bothfeld, dairy industry specialist for the Vermont Agency of Agriculture. The worst, she said, is yet to come.

Secretary of Agriculture Roger Allbee said Vermont’s greatest hope right now lies in the federal stimulus package. Vermont farms, he said, provide 15,000 jobs to the Vermont economy. He estimates that the industry’s woes could cost the state $200 million in lost economic activity in 2009.

“It’s a big impact and we’re real concerned,” Allbee said.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/a…

( – promoted by odum)

According to deputy commissioner for the Banking, Insurance, Securities & Health Care Department  based on calls to the state mortgage assistance program, 53 percent of foreclosures in Vermont are blamed on job loss, 20 percent on medical problems, 14 percent on divorce and 14 percent on adjustable and subprime mortgages.

Although Vermont has been spared huge numbers of foreclosures lets run through a quick check list of how Douglas’s proposed budget might effect what are called Trigger Events of mortgage foreclosure.

His budget calls for saving $17 million by cutting 660 jobs, some of which are vacant but many of which would involve layoffs. The cuts come on top of 400 earlier layoffs and vacant job elimination in the last two years. A possible total of 1060 jobs overall .

The governor has proposed increasing premiums for state-sponsored insurance programs, cutting reimbursement rates for doctors and slashing in half state funding for anti-tobacco programs.

This remark the Governor ads at the close of his comments to WCAX regarding IBM layoff is amazing .  “The IBM employees are well paid, they recirculate their resources in the economy, they pay taxes, so any layoff of that magnitude has an impact not only on the economy of the region but also on the state’s fiscal health. It’s part of the reason we’re facing the budget challenges we are confronting.”  Out goes his heart .

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/…