To the Editor:

Some antinuclear activists and ambitious politicians paint a rosy economic history of the shutdown of Maine Yankee. The fact is that employment went from 500 when the plant closed to 135 a year later, according to an industry report. More persuasive than these assurances is the hard research conducted recently by Vermont economist Richard Heaps, who said closing Vermont Yankee would cost more than 1,200 jobs (employees, contractors, etc.) connected to Vermont Yankee, and $93 million in payroll.

Heaps also said the state of Vermont would lose $7.6 million in general fund revenue and almost $5 million in the education fund. I wonder if the activists have any suggestions about how to replace that kind of state revenue, especially when Vermont is already $150 million in the hole for this coming year. The education money alone funds the education of 352 students. Absent Vermont Yankee, that burden will fall to other taxpayers.

Everyone in today’s economy works hard, but we can’t squeeze water from a stone. Vermont Yankee is an important part of our economy, and the consequences of its closure shouldn’t be downplayed.

Tina Emery-Howe

Dummerston