MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - A U.S. appeals
court has rejected an argument by the state of Vermont that the Vermont Yankee
nuclear power plant should not have been given a new operating license because
its federal water quality permit was out of date.
In a ruling issued Tuesday, the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said the state had multiple
opportunities to argue the Vernon plant lacked a valid permit under the Clean
Water Act during the proceedings that led up to the plant's relicensing last
year.
The owners of the plant, Entergy
Corp., argued in court papers that their previous water quality certificate was
still in effect.
The appeals court's decision agrees with arguments by
Entergy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that Vermont waited too long.
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