A public hearing scheduled for today on the planned sale of the retired Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant was canceled Wednesday in the face of the oncoming “bomb cyclone” storm.
The storm was expected to deliver snow, ice, strong winds, and frigid temperatures across the East Coast starting Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. A winter weather advisory was issued Wednesday for a number of counties and municipalities in Vermont, including the town of Brattleboro, where the public hearing will be held.
The Vermont Public Utility Commission said in a notice Wednesday it would “as soon as possible” reschedule the hearing and preceding information session, which were scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at Brattleboro Union High School. A new schedule had not been set as of Wednesday afternoon, a commission staffer said.
The state Public Utility Commission is one of two regulatory agencies, along with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, that must approve the sale of Vermont Yankee from power company Entergy to NorthStar Group Services. The new owner would then be responsible for decommissioning the plant, which was shut down in December 2014 after more than four decades of service. Representatives from both companies were expected to participate in this week’s event.
The commission has scheduled a second round of depositions for later this month in its review of the deal, which will be followed by technical hearings toward the end of January.
Entergy and NorthStar hope to secure regulatory approval and complete the sale by the end of 2018.
