{news} Nancy Burton in the New London Day

[David Bedell]

http://www.theday.com/eng/web/news/re.aspx?re=361c1c1a-45ed-4893-a499-b43217731b3c


Court Backs Millstone Relicensing
Coalition's Appeals Dismissed, Group's Lawyer Disbarred


By PATRICIA DADDONA
Day Staff Writer, Waterford
Published on 10/19/2004

The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has dismissed two separate appeals 
brought by the Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone in an effort to 
challenge proposed license renewals at Millstone Power Station.

In doing so, the three federal judges for the New York City court also 
issued an order disbarring coalition lawyer Nancy Burton of Redding Ridge 
from serving as legal counsel in federal court, a decision that mirrors one 
made at the state level by the Connecticut Supreme Court last year.

The Waterford power station owner, Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, is seeking 
to renew the original, 40-year operating licenses with 20-year extensions 
through 2035 at Millstone 2 and 2045 at Millstone 3. A third reactor, 
Millstone 1, has been permanently shut down and is not a candidate for 
license renewal.

In a summary statement issued by Judges Roger J. Miner, Jose A. Cabranes, 
and Chester J. Straub on Thursday and distributed publicly by the NRC, the 
court refused to review an NRC decision that supports denials by the NRC's 
Atomic Safety & Licensing Board to grant the coalition an administrative law 
hearing.

This summer, Burton argued that the hearing was a necessary part of the 
license renewal process, citing cancer clusters near Millstone, inadequate 
steps taken to prevent terrorism and other concerns.

The safety board, an adjudicatory arm of the NRC, twice found that Burton 
failed to back up her assertions according to “basic legal standards” and 
didn't relate the issues to the aging of the reactors, as the NRC requires.

In rejecting Burton's appeal of the NRC decision, the court stated it could 
only overturn an NRC ruling if it found the agency's actions to be 
“arbitrary and capricious.” The coalition did little more than meet legal 
requirements that gave it standing to petition for the hearing, the court 
ruled.

In a related matter, the court also refused to review an NRC decision that 
found the coalition's original petition for a hearing, filed the day before 
new hearing rules were enacted, to be premature. The coalition had argued 
that the new rules eliminating rights of discovery and cross-examination 
were unfair.

The court has no jurisdiction in that matter because no proceedings for 
relicensing had begun by Feb. 12, the day that petition was filed.

Burton, who has spearheaded the grass-roots anti-nuclear power organization 
as both attorney and co-founder, said Monday she would fight the court order 
for disbarment by requesting a stay of that decision.

She is running as a Green Party candidate in the 135th House District on a 
platform that includes a vow to shut down the power plants.

In a written statement, she called the court's decisions “erroneous rulings 
(that) ... reward a nuclear industry with diminished radiation-control 
requirements and avoid entirely public oversight of the mega-issue of 
Millstone re-licensing. These decisions deal a heavy blow to the public's 
right to participate in critical matters affecting their health and safety.”

Judges directed Burton to inform her clients of her changed status as a 
lawyer in federal court. They also underscored the NRC's assertion that 
dismissal of the coalition's recent claims would not prevent the group from 
pursuing future issues with different legal representation.

In September, the coalition challenged a state agency's permit for storage 
of spent fuel at Millstone in New Britain Superior Court. A Groton lawyer, 
Paulann Sheets, is representing the group. Dominion has indicated it plans 
to ask the court to dismiss the case.


© The Day Publishing Co., 2004

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