Vermont Law School’s Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic (ENRLC) is representing the Connecticut River Watershed Council (CRWC), Trout Unlimited (Deerfield/Millers 349 Chapter), and the Citzens Awareness Network (Massachusetts Chapter) in an appeal of a discharge permit granted by the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) in March, 2006 to Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC (Entergy). The permit amendment allows Entergy to increase the temperature of the Connecticut River in the summer by an additional 1?F. This is the third in a series of permit amendments beginning in 1978 that ANR has granted allowing Vermont Yankee to bypass its cooling towers and discharge super-heated water to the river. Appellants are concerned about the impact of this cumulative warming on the Atlantic salmon and American shad, two species of anadromous fish that are the subject of a major federal-state restoration effort in the Connecticut River Basin. Of particular concern is the dramatic decline in the number of shad  returning to the river above Vernon, VT, where the powerplant is located, that has occurred since Vermont Yankee received its last thermal variance in 1991. In that year, over 37,000 shad ascended the fish ladder at Vernon Dam; this year less than 100 fish made it above Vernon. There are a number of potential causes for this decline, including dam passage and predation by striped bass, but several resource agencies including the Connecticut River Atlantic Salmon Commission and the U.S Department of the Interior, are concerned that the Vermont Yankee discharge may be a contributing cause.

The case is being heard by Vermont Environmental Court Judge Merideth Wright in the Windham County Courthouse in Newfane VT. Trial started June 26 and is scheduled to last until July 27. Over a dozen expert witnesses will be called. The case poses a classic ecological detective story, and it will be interesting to see how it unfolds in the courtroom.