As reported by Vermont Public Radio, the same federal judge, Garvan Murtha, in Brattleboro, Vermont federal district court who ruled in Entergy Nuclear's favor a year ago, has today ruled against it. Although Murtha ruled in Entergy versus Shumlin, et al. a year ago that the State of Vermont had strayed into the sole purview of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in its bid to shutdown the controversial Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee (VY) atomic reactor, Murtha has today rejected an Entergy bid to block a new lawsuit filed by the New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution.
The New England Coalition (NEC) has filed suit before the State of Vermont Supreme Court, calling for VY's immediate shutdown, due to Entergy's lack of a current Certificate of Public Good from the State of Vermont Public Service Board. In Jan. 2012, despite his ruling regarding NRC's federal preemption on radiological safety issues, Murtha's ruling acknowledged the VT PSB's authority to issue -- or not -- Entergy's CPG. A decade ago, when it bought VY, Entergy itself agreed, by binding contract, to abide by the VT PSB's decisions regarding its CPG. However, Entergy has since legally challenged the VT PSB's authority, naming the three individual PSB commissioners, by name, in its legal actions. The VT PSB is currently collecting public comment on whether or not Entergy should be granted a new CPG, after its old one expired with the expiration of VY's original 40 year operating license on March 21, 2012.
Murtha's refusal to block NEC's challenge means the VT Supreme Court will hear the case in mid-January. This will come just days after Vermont's Attorney General, William Sorrell, will appeal Murtha's 2012 ruling that Vermont's laws had strayed into federally preempted NRC jurisdiction. The appeal's oral arguments will be heard on Monday, January 14th, beginning at 10 AM in the hearing room of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan, NY.
In a separate but related legal matter, the Brattleboro Reformer reports that Entergy has itself appealed to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan a ruling by another Brattleboro federal district court judge, Christina Reiss. Judge Reiss ruled last October that Entergy's legal challenge against a new generation tax imposed by the State of VT on VY should not be heard in her federal courtroom, but rather by the State Supreme Court. Rather than follow those instructions, Entergy has appealed to federal appeals court.