BRATTLEBORO, Vt. -
"You're time is up." That's the message antinuclear protestors hope Entergy's corporate executives will hear loud and clear. Hundreds of protestors rallied on the Brattleboro Common, all calling for the closure of Vermont Yankee.
Nuclear opponents call the Vernon plant old, leaky and accident-prone. Protestors from Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts say it's time to remove the facility from their backyards.
"No radiation, no more Entergy; they have to go," said Anneke Corbett, a protester from Massachusetts.
But not everyone agrees. Just outside the rally, Yankee supporters sat with their own signs. They say the nuclear facility brings critical jobs and revenue into the county, not to mention homegrown power.
"Why is it OK to eat and shop locally but not get your power locally?" asked Gwen Shaclumis, a supporter of Vermont Yankee. "It's not a good thing to lose that. We need this company here."
But the protesters were determined to deliver their message and marched three miles to Entergy's corporate headquarters. They say they're disappointed in Judge J. Garvin Murtha's ruling to allow Yankee to continue to operate for another 20 years without the state's blessing.
"It's unacceptable. It needs to go," Corbett said.
Corbett was one of the dozens of demonstrators chosen by the group to voluntarily trespass onto Entergy's property with the goal of getting arrested.
This marks her sixth arrest for the cause.
