GMD Contributing Editor Caoimhin Laochdha was hospitalized this week after experiencing a pulmonary embolism. Scary stuff indeed, but Caoimhin has already been released from the ICU and is currently trying to convince his doctors that it was only a case of the 24-hour-pulmonary-embolism and that they should let him return home so he can get back to his favorite pasttime of injecting coagulated blood into his femoral vein (although the doctors are suggesting a new hobby might be in order, given the circumstances).

In any event, I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say how relieved I am that he’s okay. You may not see a lot of Caoimhin on the front page, but he is a real pillar of this site and does a tremendous amount behind the scenes. In all honesty, I don’t think I’d have it in me to still be doing this blogging business without him.

So get well soon, and next time you feel like getting ill, try something less scary, like a skin rash. At least something that doesn’t include “sudden death” as a possible complication. Sheesh.

Cross posted from Border Jumpers, Danielle Nierenberg and Bernard Pollack.



Been scratching our heads about how to write 1,000 original, inspiring, and exciting words on one of the most written about countries in the world. Instead of trying, we want to share with you a couple of things we saw and learned while we there.

As we traveled all the way south from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Johannesburg, South Africa, several Africans kept telling us how dangerous J’burg is. We heard the same sort of thing before visiting Nairobi, Kenya,”don’t step out at night and “don’t go anywhere without a taxi…” Yada, Yada, Yada.

But there was no question in our minds whether would visit or not. With a dozen meetings scheduled, nothing was going to stop us from going. And after two weeks weeks, despite the hype, and without compromising our experience, we didn’t encounter a single problem (we stayed in hostels and budget B&B’s), didn’t witness any car-jackings, were never robbed at gun point at an ATM, and never felt that our safety was compromised in any way. Every visitor we met while in the city had the same experience as us (uneventful, as far as crime).  

We are not saying don’t be cautious — or that crime is not a problem — but if fear is stopping anyone from experiencing this important city, or even the World Cup, our advice is stop reading this article and book that ticket.

When you arrive in Johannesburg, it’s hard not to notice how big this mega-city is– more than 10 million people and one of the 40 largest cities in the world. While it is the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa, the gap between the rich and poor is unlike anything we have seen (maybe with the exception of Kenya). We visited the slums of Germiston and Soweto, comparing the poverty to the decadence of the suburb Sandton and the East Gate Mall, the biggest mall in J’burg. How ironic that a city with so much wealth also has such extreme poverty, comparable or even worse to what we saw traveling in Madagascar, Ethiopia, and Zimbabwe.

We wanted to share with you two interesting meetings/projects we visited on the ground:

We did a field visit to Johnson Matthey Catalysts in Germiston, South Africa, just outside of Johannesburg. There, nearly 600 workers pass through its doors every day to work on an assembly line making catalytic converters that are inserted in cars to reduce pollution, complying with South Africa’s auto environmental emissions standards. As we arrived, Percy Nhlapo, a trainer with the Solidarity Center, an AFL-CIO affiliated non-profit organization that assists workers around the world who are struggling to build democratic and independent trade unions, was leading a discussion with a group of workers to correct misconceptions about the HIV virus and urging participants to get tested. “HIV/AIDS affects everyone, educating workers is the first step in helping them prevent further infection, getting tested is the second,” said Percy. After the training, nearly all the workers voluntarily agreed to be tested.



At the testing area, we spoke with registered nurse Dorothy Majola. “I find this job so rewarding because it so important that people know their status, as soon as they know their status they can change their lifestyle and behavior, which it will allow them to live longer lives,” said Majola. The company, in coordination with NUMSA (the workers’ union) and the Solidarity Center, agreed to host the training, allowing workers to attend and get tested at the beginning and end of their work shifts. Through programs like these thousands of workers are voluntarily getting tested a year across the country.





The next day we met with Daniel Kamanga, the Director of Communications of Africa Harvest, and former Kenyan journalist, who says that journalism in Africa has to overcome many challenges, including a general lack of coverage on agriculture issues-let alone a deeper understanding about who is funding agricultural development in Africa. Although agriculture makes up about 98 percent of the economy in Kenya, it’s barely covered in the country’s newspapers. And there are not any agricultural editors at any of the newspapers on the entire continent. But it’s not just a question of reporters having more knowledge, according to Kamanga. It’s also a matter of compensation. African journalists are typically paid very little compared to journalists in other countries. In Burkina Faso for example, reporters receive just 160 dollars per month. As a result, many journalists see bribes as a way to supplement their income. Yet with newspaper and media consolidation, fierce competition for advertisers, and lackluster economic conditions in Africa and all over the world, it’s a trend that might only get worse.

Finally, here are four other random final thoughts about “Jozi”:

(1) Spend an entire day at the Apartheid Museum, it’s brilliantly laid out using technology and multi-media, the visits take you on a powerful journey that will forever change the way your forever look at race relations and racism. It was one of the most powerful and emotional experiences of our lives.

(2) Take a biking or walking tour of Soweto, make sure you don’t just visit Apartheid landmarks (although you should definitely also do that), but ask your tour guide to take you through several villages and slum areas (we went looking at urban gardening projects).

(3) Where we stayed for a couple of days: we splurged ($35/night double en suite) on a quaint bed and breakfast on Sunberry street, in the heart of the bohemian town of Melville. Melville is full of alternative shops, two used bookstores, loads of pubs, and even a burrito barn. What we loved most about the B&B was the large kitchen for us to cook. We did a week binge of zero restaurants, cooking two meals a day, and enjoying the free wifi, free laundry, and even some free taxi rides.

(4) Visit the SAB Beer Museum, not sure what it says about a city when its number one tourist attraction is a beer museum. I’m also not sure what it says about us that we contributed to such a statistic (and had a blast!). The tour is advertised everywhere in Johannesburg–it’s a one and a half hour guided tour organized by SAB brewing (partners with Miller-Coors in the USA) complete with a 3D adventure, an IMAX-style movie, real life machinery depicting the beer making process, and lots more. Oh, and did we mention the tasting?

This should be the nail in the coffin of the attempt to repeal IRV in Burlington (not saying it will be, just saying it should be). From a press release:

Mr. (Andy) Montroll, who was the Democratic nominee for mayor in 2009, added, “We shouldn’t measure our rules based on who wins and who loses in any one election. I support a fair election system that upholds the principle of majority rule. The 40% winner system proposed by Question 5 violates that principle. Please join me in voting no on Question 5.”

Montroll also noted, “I see benefits to both instant runoff voting and to delayed runoff voting; but regardless, we need to support the 50% requirement in our elections for mayor.”

Montroll, of course, is the candidate that really got screwed by IRV’s “perverse outcome” (which even IRV dogmatics are slowly starting to acknowledge as real). By any other measure, its Montroll, not Kurt Wright, who would’ve won.

IRV opponents have clearly overreached by petitioning for a return to the 40% threshold for winning the mayor’s race, rather than the more obviously fair 50%. IRV is superior in all measurable ways to a plurality vote, and even (though not as dramatically) to a traditional runoff, but proponents wanted their 40%, which could potentially allow a Republican like Wright to slip by the majority. This means, frankly, that the IRV vs. traditional runoff debate (or Condorcet, or whatever) shouldn’t even be on the table for discussion. This is simply about majority rule.

A disclaimer: I’ve worked, rather closely, with the organizations that are affected by what I’m writing about, and I can not be fully objective about this.  The people I’m talking about are colleagues and friends.

There was a fairly important legislative session yesterday that included the passage of a bill dubbed “challenges for change” which is likely to have significant impact on our economy, and especially our most vulnerable citizens.

One very specific significant impact will affect child care, its overall quality and the access child care providers have to state resources.  As the report on which this legislation was built states:

State human service professionals struggle to create unified and integrated support to consumers and communities.  The existing operating environment is rigid and often hinders coordinated policy and practice, as well as inadvertently promotes redundancy and inefficiencies, while failing to address a person or family’s multiple, interrelated needs.  Federal funding is a primary – although not the only – contributor to this deficiency as it supports an array of public sector human services that operate in programmatic, fiscal and reporting silos.

This is not incorrect.  A single family can have multiple needs which intersect several different departments.  Child care, health care, unemployment… all these are handled separately and can easily ask for the same information multiple times through many interviews.

But here’s the thing– now that the legislature has approved this bill, it’s not looking as likely to manifest itself as providing stronger services.  It’s looking more likely to centralize the services in Waterbury, eliminating person-to-person contact.  There are good and bad things about this, but doing so will provide for collateral damage.  

Currently, the Child Development Division has partner organizations throughout the state that provide support for both families and child care providers.  Many of these organizations have existed for well over a decade.  

Centralizing human services in Waterbury will eliminate a chunk of the staff for many of these organizations and eliminate the option for local walk-in support for people seeking child care.  Furthermore, the other services that these organizations provide, such as training and support for child care providers will still need to continue.

But there’s a big difference between an agency that has 10-20 people working for it that provides a multitude of services, and one that’s had most of its staff reduced and has its services cut down to just a few specialized tasks.  Fund raising for these partner organizations could easily fall by the wayside and the organizations could end up disintegrating entirely, leaving a huge gap in their local communities.  

I’m all for better efficiency and I’m all for stronger sense of integrated service, but I’m not convinced that this is the way to do it, and I’m thinking the likely outcome isn’t better service due to removing barriers and complications.  I’m thinking the likely outcome is just less service due to the remoteness of the agencies and the lack of direct human contact.

I get that this is important, but I think the legislature moved fast enough on this to make my head spin and I think one of the reasons they did it now was because there was so much else going on that it could slide under the radar.

It’s up to us to see to it that that doesn’t happen.

Yesterday, the Vermont Senate voted 26-4 to close Entergy’s Vermont Yankee power plant by 2012.

But, hey, it still leaks 24-7.

“… brings new insight on plant operation”* Yesterday while the Senate was voting, Entergy reported that after investigating itself for misrepresenting the existence of underground piping, they had suspended four more top level engineers.

Included, somewhat incredibly, is the head of the team currently investigating the underground leak of radioactive tritium.  These four suspensions makes a total of 11 high-level people suspended, disciplined and officially reprimanded for involvement in the underground pipe issue.

Entergy Nuclear announced Wednesday that it had suspended four additional senior Vermont Yankee employees – including the man who had been leading the investigation into the tritium leak – after it concluded its investigation into whether its employees lied to state regulators about the existence of buried pipes carrying radioactivity.  

Larry Smith, spokesman for Entergy Nuclear, said that no successor had been named to replace Dreyfuss on the tritium task force, but he stressed that finding the leak was a "team effort." He declined to say when Dreyfuss and the others were placed on leave and he said he couldn't say what administrative leave entailed.  Also placed on leave was Dave McElwee, Entergy's senior liaison engineer who was the main technical point man on regulatory issues for the company in Montpelier.

Prior to the tritium leaks and revelations of lying…err…misleading statements, Dreyfuss and McElwee were both featured prominently in Entergy’s public relations campaign; the rapidly terminated iamvy.com PR blitz. Before this current unpleasantness began, Vermont Yankee Site VP Mike Colomb (also among those admonished for the underground pipe deception) described the ad campaign’s goals like this:

“brings new insight on plant operation, as the featured employees — all Vermont residents — express in their own words the pride and dedication they bring to their jobs, and why it is in the best interest of all Vermonters to keep the plant in service.”  

Just a quick update to let you know that Tom Kavet will be talking with the Senate Health and Welfare Committee this afternoon at 1:30 pm about the economic impact of the proposed Agency of Human Services budget cuts.

-Doug Racine

Interesting times at the Statehouse today, eh? Another session where something BIG happens. I could get used to this. Here are some quick post-game thoughts:

Creepiest moment: Newly appointed Senator Peg Flory (who droned on endlessly – possibly more than all her colleagues combined – in a quixotic quest to derail the Senate’s decision) was, of course, a member of the House until recently. As such, she kept mistakenly referring to Senate President Brian Dubie as “Speaker.” At one point, she apologized referring to her time “in the other body,” to which Dubie responded (and if this isn’t the exact quote, it’s pretty close) that “we’re glad to have you in our body.” Yeeg.

Biggest WTF moment: When the amendment that exemplified Senator Bartlett’s much-maligned attempt earlier in the week to scuttle this week’s vote was voted on, Bartlett voted against it. She also gave the most effective speech in support of a “no” vote on the final roll call.

It was an odd end to far and away the oddest political choice I’ve ever seen a candidate for high office make. Will it be enough to put her back into the game, or is the campaign damage already done?

What is it with Bobby Starr? That guy is the Ben Nelson of Vermont politics.

Best moment besides the vote: This definitely belonged to Chittenden Senator Tim Ashe, even if it did drag things out a bit needlessly. After Senator Flory introduced her “amendment” that would would have called for a second reactor to by built (dropping the name “Obama” every other word), Ashe noted in response that after being repeatedly lectured by Flory that (in her view) the vote on the bill represented a “rush to judgment,” how on Earth could her then asking the Senate to – out of the blue and with no hearings or discussion – call for a whole freaking new nuclear power plant pass the straight face test?

Well! No more Mister Nice Guy, I guess: Right out of the gate, Widely regarded nice guy Senator Phil Scott of Washington not only dismissed any questions about his stance, he took on a brand new identy as nasty partisan firebrand. He wasted no time getting on the record insulting President Pro Tem Shumlin by nakedly accusing him of playing politics and reaching for a particularly lame vehicle for his condemnation in an accusation that Shumlin had short circuited the normal rules committee process by polling members, rather than convening a formal vote. Shumlin countered that this was part of the way it works, giving back better than he got in the dig department.

The whole thing simply ended up reflecting badly on committeeman Mullin (R-Rutland) who ended the discussion by feebly promising Scott he would never allow himself to be so polled again. One had the sense he didn’t want Scott to ground him.

But Scott persisted in angry partisan warrior mode throughout, even tongue-lashing the body after the vote for trying “score political points.” Scott is, of course, running for Lieutenant Governor and was obviously all about scoring some political points himself to get through the GOP primary. Who knows, maybe he’ll go the full tea-bag before this is done.

Interesting sidenote: the Senate pages were bringing pink slips with the constituent phone calls regarding the vote to the various senators. Scott had an exceptionally large pile – probably dozens. From what I saw, every time he received one he just tossed it, still folded closed, into the pile with the others. I don’t think he bothered to read a single one. Real man o’ the people, there.

Bonus prize: Nobody was talking about Jim Douglas today. In the past his presence has drifted over important legislative decision-making moments like really nasty flatulence. Today, he was the lamest of ducks. He didn’t matter a whit, or perhaps a whiff.

We love the energy of Maputo.

It’s the good kind of energy where we never felt like people were trying to hustle us like in the tourist traps of Arusha and Zanzibar, Tanzania. We also felt safe to wander in the evenings unlike in Nairobi, Kenya or Johannesburg, South Africa where we would jump into cabs after evening meetings (or linger in the suburbs).

Maputo’s vibrant, entrepreneurial, positive, and alive. It reminded us of Kampala, Uganda where the youth are bursting with energy, from the buzzing music scene, to the street and informal economy, and small upstart businesses.  

Mozambique is not without its problems. Real poverty is everywhere, drug use rampant,  many schools are dilapidated and deteriorating, and there is lots of evidence of environmental destruction and deforestation. But Maputo is clearly on the move, transforming itself and melding some of the best parts of its rich and diverse cultures.

We arrived by an Intercape bus from J’burg on an all night ride that spent an extra five hours on the road due to a closed highway from a chemical spillage and accident. And after pulling an all-nighter we jumped right into a series of meetings for Dani’s research for Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet.

We checked into Base Backpackers largely because it was in walking distance to the Intercape bus station and twenty dollar a night for a private room. We’d be lying if we told you it was a perfect situation: we were in the lower basement (it wreaked of mold), had to walk two flights of stairs and across a hallway to go to the bathroom (twenty people were sharing the one working toilet), cold water showers, and internet so bad that old school AOL dial-up would have felt like luxury. With that said, the hostel was in the heart of the city and across the street from vegetarian friendly Chinese and Indian food. The hotel staff was extremely friendly, and the “guard” — a mutt resembling a bijon frise named Spudd — made for a warm, tail wagging welcome when we came home.



We spent the day visiting a workshop organized by Prolinnova, the Spanish NGO Centro de Iniciativas para la Cooperación/Batá, and the National Farmers Union of Mozambique, UNAC, about different agricultural innovations. The workshop brought farmers together from across the country to share with each other different innovations each farmer was practicing in her or his community. What I loved about the workshop was that it wasn’t some NGO preaching about what should be done, the farmers led the meeting, they drove the discussion, they presented their own findings. It was really refreshing to hear from the people who know best what is working and what needs to be scaled-up across the country. Throughout the morning, farmers presented other innovations and practices-including how to prevent diseases that affect their crops and fruit trees and how to raise farmed fish. Batá/Prolinnova/UNAC plans to identify 12-14 innovations and practices identified at the workshops for a book which will be translated into three of Mozambique’s languages, allowing these different innovations to spread throughout the country.

The next day we spent an awe-opening couple of hours with Dr. Rosa Costa at International Rural Poultry Center of the Kyeema Foundation in Mozambique. We know all too well how avian influenza, H1N1 and serious diseases can ravage livestock and rural communities. Newcastle disease, which can wipe out entire flocks of chickens and can spread from farm to farm, is especially devastating for rural farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. Vaccines for Newcastle used to be hard to come by in Africa. They were imported and usually expensive, putting them out of reach of small farmers. And even when they were available, they required refrigeration, which is not common in many rural villages. Today, however, thanks to the work of the Kyeema foundation in Mozambique, villages have access not only to vaccines, but also to locally trained community vaccinators (or para-vets) who can help spot and treat Newcastle and other poultry diseases before they spread. With help from a grant from the Australian Government’s overseas aid program (AusAID), Kyeema developed a thermo-stable vaccine that doesn’t need to be refrigerated and is easier for rural farmers to administer to their birds.



Dr. Costa also talked at great length about the importance of nutrition when it comes to treating HIV/AIDS. Many retroviral and HIV/AIDS drugs don’t work if patients aren’t getting enough vitamins and nutrients in their diets or accumulating enough body fat. She noted that while many farmers are often too sick to grow crops, “chickens are easy.” Because women are often the primary caregivers for family members with HIV/AIDS, they need easy, low-cost sources of both food and income. Unlike many crops, raising free-range birds can require few outside inputs and very little maintenance from farmers. Birds can forage for insects and eat kitchen scraps, instead of expensive grains. They provide not only meat and eggs for household use and income, but also pest control and manure for fertilizer.

On our last day we visited with Madyo Couto who works under the Mozambique Ministry of Tourism to help manage the country’s Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs). These areas were initially established to help conserve and protect wildlife, but they’re now evolving to include other uses of land that aren’t specifically for conservation. Madyo explained that in addition to linking the communities that live near or in conservation areas to the private sector to build lodges and other services for tourists, they’re also helping farmers establish honey projects to generate income. In many of national parks and other conservation areas, farmers resort to poaching and hunting wildlife to earn money. He added that establishing alternative-and profitable-sources of income is vital to protecting both agriculture and biodiversity in the TFCAs.

Finally we met with Jessica Milgroom, an American graduate student working with farming communities living inside Limpopo National Park, in southern Mozambique. When the park was established in 2001, it was essentially “parked on top of 27,000 people,” says Jessica. Some 7,000 of the residents needed to be resettled to other areas, including within the park, which affected their access to food and farmland. Jessica’s job is to see what can be done to improve resettlement food security. But rather than simply recommending intensified agriculture in the park to make better use of less land, Jessica worked with the local community to collect and identify local seed varieties. One of the major problems in Mozambique, as well as other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, is the lack of seed. As a result, farmers are forced to buy low-quality seed because nothing else is available. In addition to identifying and collecting seeds, Jessica is working with a farmer’s association on seed trials, testing varieties to see what people like best.

After only five days in Maputo, we will definitely come back for another visit. Mozambique is so vast and incredible with loads of incredible projects to visit that our brief trip simply wasn’t enough time. But with meetings already scheduled in Durban, we boarded the 20 hour bus ride (had to go via J’Burg) back.

[Update 2: via email: Sen. Randy Brock will offer an amendment to slow the process, although he believes Entergy is “suspect.” He says today’s vote is based on emotion and innuendo. — NanuqFC]

[UPDATE & call for participation: Have to quit live-blogging for now — paid work takes precedence. Any GMD-er is invited to contribute if you’re listening either in comments or by adding updates under your own moniker. Thanks! — NanuqFC]

The proceedings began with Senator and lt. gubernatorial candidate Phil Scott (R) raising procedural objections, “interrogating” (their word) Rules Committee Chairman and gubernatorial candidate Peter Shumlin on how the ordinary process was circumvented to bring the VY relicensing bill to a vote. Scott then inquired of Rutland Republican Kevin Mullin (I think; the Senators are not addressed by name, but by district, and I’m listening via VPR’s live stream) about whether the poll of the rules committee was unanimous as presented, which he denied.

As Scott seemed ready to continue his challenge, someone whose district I didn’t catch asked for a recess. At 10:57 a.m., that’s where we are.

They’re back: Scott agrees to shut up and sit down. Shumlin regrets any misunderstanding in the process.

Mullin thought he was clear with his thumbs-down response on the rules committee process. But does not mean to imply that Shumlin intended to pull a fast one.

Sen. Ann Cummings makes a presentation from the Finance Committee about Enexus. No recommendation from the committee.

UPDATE: (excerpt from press release)

Statement by Senate President Peter Shumlin Regarding the Senate’s Vote

to (close) Vermont Yankee as Scheduled

Montpelier, Vt – “The Vermont Senate, today voted by an

overwhelming bipartisan majority to close the aging Vermont Yankee

nuclear power plant as scheduled in 2012. The 26 to 4 vote sent Entergy

Louisiana a clear message: enough is enough.

Vermonters deserve better than an aging, unreliable nuclear power plant

owned by an untrustworthy out of state corporation.  The Senate took the

courageous step to close the unreliable plant on schedule and voted

instead to stake out a bold new energy future that will create thousands

of good-paying jobs in the fields of renewable energy and energy

efficiency.”

-k9k

UPDATE: Bill to extend VY license defeated, 26-4.

UPDATE:

Sen. Brock, R. Franklin, admits he’s been trying to slow the process down, but will vote no on the bill. Wishes he knew more. Not happy with prevarications by Vermont Yankee.

Sen. Bartlett, D. Lamoille. “To vote no today is a no-brainer.”

Roll call on passage.

Ashe: NO

Ayer: NO

Bartlett: NO

Brock: NO

Campbell: NO

Carris: NO

Choate: NO

Cummings: NO

Doyle: NO

Flanagan: NO

Flory: YES

Giard: NO

Hartwell: NO

Illuzzi: NO

Kitchel: NO

Kittell: NO

Lyons: NO

MacDonald: NO

Mazza: YES

McCormack: NO

Miller: NO

Mullin: NO

Nitka: NO

Racine: NO

Scott: YES

Sears: NO

Shumlin: NO

Snelling: NO

Starr: YES

White: NO

Bill defeated, 26-4.

More below the jump to save front page real estate.

UPDATE: Another proposed amendment from Flory, R. Rutland. Key idea: Let’s put up a new nuke! After all, when they set up Yankee they permitted the site for two plants.

Sen. White: There is no evidence that the site was ever approved for two plants.

Roll call: Brock, Carris, Flory, Mullin, Scott, Starr vote Yes, all others vote No. Amendment defeated 24-6.

UPDATE: reconvening after lunch recess.

Senator Mullins from Rutland is proposing an amendment, which is being passed out now.

Drafted with Brock, Flory, and Scott to be a “better framework” for the decision.

Starts out with discussion of new findings.

Creates two new sections that seem to be designed to create a fig leaf for support of the plant.

Roll call:

Yes votes from Brock, Flory, Mullins, Scott, Starr.

25 No votes. Amendment is defeated.

Debate starts with a point of parliamentary inquiry by Phil Scott, R. Wash., asking Peter Shumlin how they could consider the bill when it was introduced in contravention of the rules. This apparently relates to missing crossover.

Shumlin: it’s a committee bill, they never reject a request to bring up a committee bill after crossover, and the Rules Committee was polled and agreed unanimously.

Apparently dissatisfied with Shumlin’s response, Scott now interrogates one of the members of the Senate Rules Committee. Kevin Mullin responds, saying that he had his thumb down, but said that he eventually said “If you want to have this fight on the floor we’ll have it on the floor.”

At request of John Campbell they go into a brief recess.

Recess ends: Scott stands by his comment. Doesn’t “withdraw” anything because he didn’t make a point of order. “I’d like us to move forward. I think it’s important to have this discussion today.”

Shumlin: I thought we had unanimous support to allow the bill.

Chair recognizes Ann Cummings, D. Wash. Senate Finance Committee has followed strict procedure and followed a deliberative process. Twelve-page handout on their process.

S. 289 mirrors the language of Act 160, reciting requirement of finding that continued operation of VY is in the public interest. Bill voted out without recommendation, which is very rare.

Begins recitation of VY history, going back to 1972 opening of Vermont Yankee.

Complicated corporate structure, involving several LLC’s that insulate the parent company from potential liability.

Repeated legislative attempts to ensure safety, reliability, and decommissioning. Entergy has refused all attempts to provide security for decommissioning costs. “We have not gotten a clear answer.” “They come with a very limited focus as to what they can talk about.”

Cummings concludes. Up next, Ginny Lyons, D. Chitt., from Senate Natural Resources. Committee has heard from many re: performance reliability and have information relating to planning for and access to electricity.

Lost audio. Hopefully it will return.

Audio is back. Shumlin up to respond to process questions.

Open process. No surprise that they’re voting today. Quotes news reports going back months of him saying they’re going to move forward and vote.

Ten days ago the chair of Finance came to him and said there is nobody left to hear from, and it’s time to vote. Natural Resources said the same thing. “We cannot take additional testimony, we’ve been taking it for four years, it’s time to vote.”

Up until a few days ago that’s also what Douglas, Entergy, and the Public Service Department wanted. Quotes Douglas from January 30: “Peter Shumlin ought to have a vote.”

Praises the work of Arnie Gundersen. His character was maligned publicly because he has been an ardent watchdog of the industry, who also happens to know more about the industry than anyone I know, and he’s been right every time. Praises Arnie Gundersen’s courage and knowledge.

The fact that future Legislatures can undo this vote doesn’t mean it’s a meaningless vote today. That’s just the way every bill and every new Legislature works.

I’m urging you to allow VY to close on schedule.

Five facts:

1. Price offered by Enexus in December. 50% price increase, plus inflation kicker, for 11% of Vermont’s electric needs, not the current 33%. Price offer is from Enexus, not Entergy. If PSB didn’t approve transfer to Enexus they would shut the plant down. Entergy-Louisiana is getting out of nuke business.

GMP and CVPS have not made a deal because they’ve concluded the price is no good.

2. Cleanup. Recommissioning fund is $600 million short. Douglas has vetoed two bills to require guarantee of recommissioning funds. This is even before the tritium leaks. A similar plant had its costs double after tritium leak.

3. The spinoff. We’re in recession because of Wall Street schemes that cost people on Main Street billions. Those schemes are nothing compared to Enexus scheme. Pocketing $3.5 billion of borrowed money, $4.7 billion of low quality debt.

4. Reliability. No further explication necessary.

5. Trust. I know they had a press conference this morning and their lawyers concluded they had not misled our regulators or legislators in describing the pipes that “didn’t exist”. I learned when I was in business when I was 23 years old, don’t do business with someone you can’t trust.

What’s worse: a company you can’t trust or a company that doesn’t know it has pipes with radioactive waste on the shores of the Connecticut River.

Phil Scott: Point of order. What is the basis of our vote supposed to be?

Recess.

Back in session. Vermont Constitution, Art. 14, provides that legislators have immunity for words spoken in debate. Therefore, “It’s our responsibility to talk about these things, irregardless of the fact that the PSB and the NRC are responsible for safety.”

Campbell requests recess to investigate basis of jurisdiction under Act 160.

Senate in recess.

Back in session. Not sure how much I missed. Ann  Cummings is being interrogated about economic impact.

Scott moves to commit the bill to Economic Development committee. Supported by Bobby Starr, D. Essex-Orleans. Supported by Randy Brock, R. Franklin, with a litany of business groups to bring in. “I could keep reading for another twenty minutes.”

Senator from Rutland (can’t tell if it’s Mullins or Carris, but I think it’s Mullins) talking about financial impact. Cummings: Maine study by Ray Shadis found that the plant in Maine didn’t have as large local purchases as some other plants.

John Campbell interrogating Ann Cummings on study of economic impacts. Supports motion to commit bill to Senate General.

Mark McDonald, D. Orange: The utilities already have a contract to buy power in 2012 for the same price that VY is offering now, today. It’s going to be 6.1 cents with or without VY. The next question is whether it will be deliverable. VELCO says that reliable power is available even if VY and McNeil in Burlington shut down. Why would we keep Yankee open if we can get the power we need at the same price without them? I would recommend that we say no, we don’t need the power from VY. If anyone wants to offer a better price in the future, let them do that. No financial reason to continue to take power from this plant.

Jeannette White, D. Windham, to Ann Cummings: did the business interests ask to come testify to Finance, and were they turned down?

Answer: No. They didn’t request and we didn’t turn anyone down.

White: They would have been heard if they had asked.

Shumlin: “If I had a crumb of bread for every time I’ve had a chair come in and beg me not to send a bill to the Committee on Economic Development, whose chair has a prodigious appetite for bills, I could make us all sandwiches.”

Roll call on motion to refer:

Ashe: No

Ayer: No

Bartlett No

Brock Yes

Carris No

Choate No

Doyle No

Flanagan No

Flory Yes

Giard No

Hartwell No

Illuzzi No

Kitchel No

Kittell No

Lyons No

MacDonald No

Mazza Yes

McCormack No

Racine No

Scott Yes

Sears No

Shumlin No

Snelling No

Starr Yes

White No

I know I missed a few, but there were only six Yes votes.

30-minute lunch break.