Notes from Montpelier
by Rep. Bill Frank

     When the legislature convened in January, the overriding question for legislators and our constituents was with the recession that hit our national economy. Could we balance budgets while preserving our commitments to our neighbors? Many said it wasn’t possible. Last week, for the third fiscal year in a row, the House passed a budget that is fiscally responsible and balanced. This budget maintains our commitment to the health, safety and well being of our neighbors and in fact improves state government. For example, our budget will preserve the independence of disabled Vermonters and children with special health needs. It will allow elderly Vermonters to stay at home rather than being directed to reside in nursing homes, which is a cost effective option. It creates new jobs in state government that will clamp down on abuse and fraud of state resources. It maintains the legislature’s commitment to provide statewide affordable healthcare by avoiding large increases to the co-pays and deductibles of state health plans.

     The $154 million revenue gap we faced in January was addressed through collaboration of ideas with many stakeholders including the Administration, advocacy groups, the business community and many many of you, the general public. Budget savings reflect $26 million found through agreements with Vermont teachers and state employees; $38 million through a shift in focus from money based budgeting to outcomes based budgeting, a project named Challenges for Changes; by accepting $45 million in the Administration’s Human Services proposals; $2 million from the Judicial Branch in a major restructuring of the court system; and all legislators took a 5% pay cut and are working to end the session in 16 weeks rather than 18 weeks.

     The House committee on Fish, Wildlife and Water Resources has had Dr. William Irwin in their committee room each week to update them on the problem of the tritium leak at the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant. Dr. Irwin heads the Radiological Health Program at the Vermont Department of Health. The leakage appears to be from a flawed concrete joint where an Advanced Off-Gas (AOG) pipe tunnel meets a 2-inch drain line. Vermont Yankee and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) concur that this is one clear source of groundwater contamination which has probably occurred over the last 18-24 months. It could be that about 300,000 gallons of ground water are contaminated and it could have been leaking at a rate of about 100 gallons per day.

     Dr. Irwin’s review of the documents indicated that the AOG system was modified in 1972 and created a very long pipe tunnel that was otherwise inaccessible to inspection. Later modifications in 1978 were described as “a set of construction practices that are, frankly, totally alien to nuclear facility construction practices.” He described one piece of form wood originally used to create a form around the impaired concrete duct that had been left there ‘by neglect.” Over the course of years, (when the wood rotted) this created an open space or pathway for this water to leak out (especially when wet) of this otherwise sealed pipe tunnel.

     When asked if he thought this could happen again, he stated that these exact circumstances might not happen, however, the evidence that the workmanship here was “so shoddy it would not likely pass the local town building inspector, let alone the nuclear facility inspector… This defies all basic engineering principles, in my opinion, to have so much important piping where it is difficult or impossible to inspect, let alone where you have to literally break thru 24 inch concrete flooring to get to it to affect any repairs.” It is possible that this kind of work may have occurred elsewhere.

     In his discussion with the Vermont Yankee engineers, they acknowledged that “when this kind of work was done in 1960-70’s on these nuclear power plants, people really thought that it was unlikely that these plants would have to run so long and that corrosion problems such as this would occur… It was in an era when it was “too cheap to meter and where multiple hundreds of nuclear power plants would exist and this one would simply be shut down after a certain period of time and a new one put up next to it to replace it.”

     The House also unanimously passed a Jobs bill that started in the Senate (S.288). The goal is straight-forward - create jobs short-term and long-term. It accomplishes this by investing $8.7 million in Federal stimulus funds on projects including Broadband access for 12,000 Vermont homes and businesses; more worker training programs; loans to farmers; investments in Farm-to-Plate and Farm-to-School programs; loans with lower interest rates for qualifying businesses; support for low-income Vermonters starting their own business; assistance for Vermont businesses affected by Champlain Bridge shut-down; and investment in tourism.

     As always I like to hear from you, either by email: Bill@RepBillFrank.com, phone: 899-3136 or mail: 19 Poker Hill Rd, Underhill, 05489.