MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – Sticking to her earlier ruling, a judge has denied a request by the owners of Vermont Yankee nuclear plant for permission to resume dumping warmer water into the Connecticut River while a court challenge is pending. A trial is scheduled for Tuesday in Windham Superior Court on the request.
Last year, Entergy Nuclear got state permission to discharge water from the plant that would increase the temperature of the Connecticut River by one degree, allowing the Vernon power plant to save money on cooling the water after it is used to cool the reactor.
Environmental groups who say the warmer water is contributing to a decline in the number of American shad found in that section of the river, won a stay against further increases in discharges June 6.
State Environmental Court Judge Merideth Wright has now upheld the stay and denied a request by the New England Coalition to have the state permit issued for the discharges sent back to the state Agency of Natural Resources to be rewritten.
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