VT vs. VY (part II)  
By Martin Harris

Because of a prior-planning failure on my part, there’s no hidden microphone in the Board Room or Chief Executive Office of Entergy Corporation, the New Orleans-based energy company which owns 11 nuclear-generation installations, one of which is Vermont Yankee down in Windham County. Entergy bought VY from a consortium of New England utilities back in ’02, and, I’d guess, has regretted getting involved with Vermont governance and internal politics ever since. Before the purchase was even consummated, the Public Service Board had changed part of the agreement, demanding that Entergy pledge any future decommissioning funds surplus to ratepayers; the previous contract had called for Entergy to keep any pre-2022 de-commissioning surplus funds, and to split any post-2022 surplus with the selling utilities. Ancient Rome had a phrase for this sort of ruling-class behavior: "quod principe placuit, legis habet vigorem", which translates to "what pleases the prince has the force of law." Thus, this imperial announcement from Montpelier –"the law is whatever I now say it is"-- so spooked top management that it considered walking away: a company news release dated 12 July 02 explains how "Entergy is currently evaluating whether or not to complete the acquisition of the plant". It did, and the rest is history, which is why I wish had installed the secret mike, to hear first hand what company leaders now think of their own past decisions. 

After all, it’s not as if its Vermont beachhead is any sort of keystone of corporate strategy: with 2.6 million customer meter-boxes, residential and business, already on its books, Entergy doesn’t really need 200,000 more who turn out to be a lot more trouble than they’re worth. I think I’m safe in opining that, like many other companies now re-thinking their unique Vermont experience, the Green Mountain Hassle Factor has turned into something far more than they had originally signed on for. You get a sense of the ambience within the Entergy headquarters through this recent quote from CEO Brian Cosgrove: "In Vermont, a deal is never a deal." He’s referring to the latest "gotcha" from Montpelier, the sudden demand for a 35 percent excess profits tax on Entergy’s earnings (yes, it’s new, and wasn’t in the original agreement with State government), which is just the latest example of official behavior giving tangible credibility to Vermont’s anti-business reputation..

Such situational-ethics-based ground-rules-changing is just fine with Vermont’s now dominant gentry-left culture, as exemplified by LTE-writer Ed Anthes of Dummerston, who argues that VY was promised to be totally removed from its Vernon site 40 years after 1972, implying that Entergy would blithely buy an enterprise in 2002 that must be demolished in 2012. (Never mind that the de-commissioning agreement itself talks about dates like 2022 and even later). He also argues that, without demolition, tourists at Killington would soon be drinking radioactive water. Read his letter for yourself in the 28 April Herald. Ironically, his enthusiasm for close-down is shared by some on the right: one, whom I won’t identify, writes in an on-line discussion group (excuse the choice of language) "The owners of Vermont Yankee should say ‘screw it’, if charged the 35% extortion tax, pack up and leave." Perhaps that sentiment is also heard in the Entergy Board Room; without the microphone, we’ll never know. 

Since this is an opinion piece, here’s my opinion. Even though I do think an actual VY close-down would have a salutary counter-effect to the Imperial Rome mentality now prevalent under the Golden Dome, I don’t think Entergy shareholders should pay for that education. I’d rather see the company shut down VY for a few months (for safety reasons, of course) so that CV and GMP and other in-state utilities could learn to purchase power, not at 3.7c/kwh but probably at least twice that, from other sources, and pass the extra costs along to all those ratepayers anxious for a real close-down. Heck, the enviro’s among them proudly claim they would be delighted to buy wind-power at 12c/kwh, provided the towers can be made invisible. 

Conversely, those who aren’t passive-income trust-funders and are actually trying to run businesses and maintain households would be less amused. Even though they’re in the political minority, maybe they could convince the Golden Dome folks that demonstrating Vermont’s well-known anti-business climate by means of a real example isn’t such a good idea, especially in terms of what it does do the taxes they love to raise. 
 

Martin Harris is a former Chairman of Citizens for Property Rights