On August 10, eight women were arrested at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant for non-violent civil disobedience. They were calling for the reactor to be closed immediately. Yankee is three miles from Massachusetts and a stone's throw from New Hampshire.

The women were handcuffed and taken away in police cars at the same time as 16 Vermont elected officials and candidates for public office were taking a tour of Vermont Yankee. The protesters held a banner that read, “Shut It Down Now” at the afternoon protest.

Simba will play a free concert in Putney, Vermont, near Brattleboro, on August 20 at 6:30 p.m. The concert will be on the Putney town common on Route 5 in the center of downtown Putney. At least 100 people danced to the music of Simba for hours at a recent concert at the Grange hall in Dummerston, Vermont. The band plays reggae and funk, among other kinds of music.

The problem-plagued Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant is three miles from Massachusetts and a stone's throw from New Hampshire. The outcome of primary elections on August 24 in Vermont are likely to have a major impact on whether Entergy, the Louisiana corporation that owns Vermont Yankee, will get permission to run the reactor until 2032. The Vermont senate voted in February to close Vermont Yankee in March 2012. But Entergy officials are trying to get the senate to reverse itself when the senate reconvenes in January.

On June 16, Keene congressman Paul Hodes blasted the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for its failures at the tattered Vermont Yankee nuclear power reactor, and called on the NRC to order Entergy, the Louisiana company that owns the reactor, to shut Yankee immediately.

In a formal complaint to the NRC, whose members are appointed by the nuclear industry funded President Obama, the Keene congressman demanded “public answers for the lax oversight that has allowed Vermont Yankee to continue operating despite a safety record featuring frequent, repeated radioactive leaks.”

On May 7, members of Greenpeace went to Entergy Corporation’s annual shareholder meeting in Jackson, Mississippi. They told company officials to close Entergy's Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor in 2012. Vermont Yankee is in Vernon, Vermont. It's three miles from Massachusetts and a stone's throw from New Hampshire.

Greenpeace spokesman Jarred Cobb told the Valley Post that, “The Vermont state senate voted in February 2010 to close Vermont Yankee in March 2012. The vote was 26-4. Entergy is ignoring the wishes of Vermonters.”

More information is at www.greenpeace.org

Earlier this year, the Vermont senate voted to close the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in 2012. Yankee is a few miles from Massachusetts and a stone’s throw from New Hampshire.

“When Vermont Yankee closes in 2012, it will not be the end of the story,” said Paul Burns, director of www.vpirg.org “The reactor site will be a nuclear waste dump that will cost more than $1 billion dollars to clean up.”

The subsidiary of Entergy Corporation that owns Vermont Yankee is likely to declare bankruptcy in 2012 and stick Vermont taxpayers with the clean-up costs.

The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant may be ordered to close immediately by state regulators, according to a statement released on February 25 by the Vermont Public Service Board, whose members are appointed by the governor. Vermont Yankee is three miles from Massachusetts and a stone's throw from New Hampshire.

The Vermont senate voted on February 24 to close the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in 2012. The vote was 26-4. The reactor is three miles from Massachusetts and a stone's throw from New Hampshire. The New York Times reported that the vote means Vermont Yankee will almost certainly close in 2012. For more information about Vermont Yankee and the grassroots movement that led to the senate vote, please click the "nuclear power" tag, above, then scroll down.

The Vermont senate will vote on February 24 on whether the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant can run after 2012, said Duane Peterson, president of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group www.vpirg.org

Vermont Yankee is three miles from Massachusetts and a stone's throw from New Hampshire.

Live video of the senate debate is available at www.vpirg.org

Live audio is available at www.leg.state.vt.us

About 500 people attended a march and rally to close the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant February 21 in Brattleboro. Organizers asked people to contact their legislators in advance of a key vote in the Vermont senate on February 24. One anti-nuclear group is seeking donations so it can run a television commercial about the vote. Details are at www.vpirg.org

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This photo shows the February 21 march. Please click on the photo to enlarge it. photo by Eesha Williams