This vote may be followed by a vote in the House of Representatives. If either body votes to deny an extension of a certificate of good (the equivalent of a state license), - as the Senate has -the plant must shut down.

Vermont is unique in that it is the only state in which the legislature has the ability to vote to shut a plant and this historic vote will mark the first time a plant has been closed by a state legislature.

"Vermonters sent a message to President Obama and the nuclear industry today," said Greenpeace's Nuclear Policy Analyst Jim Riccio.

"The nuclear renaissance is dead on arrival. We can retire old, decrepit and leaking reactors like Vermont Yankee and help usher in the energy revolution that America needs."

A host of problems have plagued the Vermont nuclear plant, from missing fuel rods to the collapse of cooling towers to the uncontrolled and unmonitored releases of radiation into the groundwater.

On Monday, the NRC acknowledged yet another radioactive leak from the reactor in 2005. The NRC is currently investigating allegations by Vermont Yankee employees about radioactive leaks from underground piping.

"When Americans have the choice about the kind of energy they want in their communities, they don't want nuclear. Vermont has shut down the myth of the so-called nuclear renaissance. Greenpeace is calling on Vermonter legislators to vote against relicensing in the house as well so that the message to America registers loud and clear."

Despite President Obama's announcement last week of 8.3 billion dollars in loan guarantees to build the first new nuclear plant in thirty years, the illusion of a nuclear renaissance is going to suffer a setback with the vote in Vermont.

"From farmers and schoolteachers to businesspeople and students, the people of Vermont are overwhelmingly in support of a energy future that relies on clean and safe renewables like wind and solar. The communities living in the shadow of Vermont Yankee have had to worry for too long about this aging reactor," said Vermont Organizer Jarred Cobb.

--SPACE STORY biofuel slug1 190 25-DEC-49 Tseai Energy Unlimited Solidifies Plans For Pilot Biofuel Plant Tseai Energy Unlimited Solidifies Plans For Pilot Biofuel Plant msu-biofuel-coal-tb-simon-power-plant-lg.jpg msu-biofuel-coal-tb-simon-power-plant-bg.jpg msu-biofuel-coal-tb-simon-power-plant-sm.jpg File image. Tseai Energy Unlimited
Hillman Entrepreneurs Program
by Staff Writers College Park MD (SPX) Mar 04, 2010 Tseai Energy Unlimited has announced its team is traveling to Sierra Leone to lay the foundation for its first pilot program. TEU installs small-scale agricultural processing plants that take full advantage of abundant local crops, employ local farmers and make commercial products in underdeveloped communities.

The company adds biomass digesters to the plants, which convert leftover agricultural waste into biogas. That biogas is then used to produce electricity for locally built schools.

The College Park, Md.-based company, founded in 2009 by Trevor Young, a student in the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute's Hillman Entrepreneurs Program, plans to launch its first plant in the town of Mile 18 in Sierra Leone. The plant will process palm fruit, which is abundant in the region, into palm oil. Waste generated while making the palm oil is converted into biogas, which generates electricity.

"In cooperation with stakeholders here and in Sierra Leone, this is an opportunity to bring jobs, electricity, a good school and a medical clinic to a community that needs it," says Young, CEO of TEU. "Our goal is to acquire land parcels, as well as meet with developers, partners, farmers and government officials."

TEU's team is spending two weeks in Sierra Leone. In addition to acquiring land parcels in Mile 18, their agenda includes meetings with:

+ Farmers, to establish a co-op to provide palm fruit for the plant

+ Schools for Salone, a non-profit organization committed to helping Sierra Leoneans rebuild the many rural schools destroyed during their country's 10-year conflict

+ A nearby health clinic that could be renovated to provide services to the community

+ Njala University, whose agronomists can help both the plant and farmers

+ Sierra Leone Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports

+ Sierra Leone Ministry of Agriculture and Food Safety

+ Contractors for building the plant and school

TEU won $10,000 in the undergraduate division and the $15,000 Warren Citrin Social Impact Award in the University of Maryland $75K Business Plan Competition in 2009.

The company's team includes Nnenna Nwosu, an alumnus of the University of Maryland's department of agricultural and resource economics, and Akua Nkrumah, a UM senior pursuing a degree in environmental science and technology with a specialization in ecological design.

TEU has worked closely with Stephanie Lansing, assistant professor in the department of environmental science and technology, to develop its small-scale, anaerobic digestion technology.

Former Hillman Entrepreneurs director Karen Thornton and current director Carolyn Karlson have played key roles in mentoring TEU's team.

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