Symington hits Douglas' Vermont Yankee policies

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gaye Symington has been on the attack this week, assailing on Thursday incumbent Gov. Jim Douglas (R-Middlebury) for his policies related to the Vermont Yankee nuclear power facility, while proposing some of her own.

At a press conference Thursday afternoon, Symington, the state House speaker, hammered the governor for what she claimed was a failure to provide adequate oversight of  Vermont Yankee. She then outlined her own set of initiatives for dealing with the aging power plant should she be elected governor in November.

Symington claimed that Douglas' oversight was "weak" and that "Vermonters are not being well served."

After criticizing Douglas, Symington unveiled her policies initiatives for dealing with Vermont Yankee. She promised:

• that the Public Oversight Panel would have full access to the site and any documents it needed; that the public would have the right to review public safety changes,
• that she would protect Vermonters from having to pay for a decommissioning of Vermont Yankee,
•  that her administrative appointments would "ensure effective oversight,"
• that through the development of renewable energy sources, the state would be better able to bargain with Entergy for a new rate contract,
• that she would establish an economic and energy plan for a Vermont that did not rely on Vermont Yankee for energy and
• that she would analyze the impact on taxpayers of transitioning away from using the site.

Symington unveiled her proposals just two days after launching a television ad that was highly critical of the Douglas administration's actions regarding Vermont Yankee and the oversight thereof. On Monday Democracy for America, the nation's largest "progressive political action community" that recently endorsed Symington, released its own attack ad against the governor's policies as well.

The governor's office did not immediately respond to attempts of contact.