TheDay.com – Anti-Nuke Appeal In Millstone Storage Case Heads To State Supreme Court

 Court
By Patricia Daddona , Published on 10/19/2007 

The state Supreme Court may hear anti-nuclear activists’ appeal next month of a lower court ruling that found no improprieties in the siting of waste storage bunkers at Millstone Power Station.

In the appeal, the Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone alleges the lower court judge erred in his rulings and allowed the Connecticut Siting Council to “dodge” fundamental issues about public risk when allowing storage bunkers to be built.

The appeal filed by the coalition has been transferred from the state Appellate Court to the Supreme Court in Hartford, according to the court docket.

Supreme Court Chief Clerk Michele Angers said Thursday that there is no way to know whether the transfer was made to ease the burden on the appellate court, or because of some special issue that needs the attention of the higher court.

In 2004, the Siting Council granted Dominion, the owner of the nuclear complex, a permit that allows the company to install up to 49 concrete bunkers in which to house radioactive waste from its Unit 2 reactor. Currently five of the 10 bunkers on site are full, said Pete Hyde, spokesman for Dominion.

In separate rulings in January and June of 2006, Judge George Levine of the state Court of Tax and Administrative Appeals ruled that the Siting Council appropriately avoided analyzing any radiological risks associated with putting more storage at the nuclear power station two years ago, because federal law pre-empts state jurisdiction.

He also ruled that coalition leader Nancy Burton and other state residents filing the appeal failed to demonstrate that two members of the Siting Council were biased when approving the company’s application for a permit.

The parties, including defendants Dominion and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, have filed legal briefs, and the case is “ready” to be heard, Angers said.

The town of Waterford is also a defendant.

Once assigned to a Supreme Court judge, the case could be heard sometime between Nov. 19 and Dec. 3, she said