Free Republic

elief was tempered with caution in Western Massachusetts on Wednesday as news spread that the Vermont Yankee nuclear power station plans to shut down late next year. New Orleans-based Entergy Corporation made the announcement on Tuesday, citing the availability of cheap natural gas and the current economy, which has made it less profitable to operate a nuclear power plant. “This was an agonizing decision and an extremely tough call for us,” said Leo Denault, Entergy’s CEO in a statement released to the media. The company said it will begin shutting down at the end of its current fuel cycle in...

The Vermont Yankee nuclear plant on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the state over taxes on the plant that the Legislature passed this year. Vermont Yankee had already won a round in federal court over the state's efforts to close the reactor in Vernon, 120 miles south of Montpelier. That case is now on appeal at the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. The new lawsuit, by New Orleans-based plant owner Entergy Corp., targets taxes that increase the reactor's annual state tax levy from about $5 million to about $12.8 million, according to a statement released by...