{news} Connecticut Supreme Court Sides With Activist Against Millstone

[David Bedell]

http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-activist-wins-ruling.artmay21,0,1750333.story

SUPREME COURT
Connecticut Supreme Court Sides With Activist Against Millstone

Associated Press

May 21, 2009

A Connecticut environmental activist on Wednesday scored a significant legal
victory in her fight over how the Millstone nuclear power complex manages
its wastewater.

The state Supreme Court unanimously decided to allow Nancy Burton to
challenge the state process that led to a preliminary decision to allow
Millstone to renew its wastewater discharge permit. The state Department of
Environmental Protection released a draft decision in August 2006 to renew
the permit.

Burton claims Millstone's water intake and discharge system has destroyed
billions of fish and other marine life in Long Island Sound and alleges that
the permit renewal process that began in 1997 has been tainted by bias,
state favoritism toward Millstone and a disregard for environmental laws.

The five justices overturned a lower court judge's ruling that Burton had no
standing under state law to challenge the permit process.

"We conclude that the plaintiff's complaint adequately sets forth facts to
support an inference that unreasonable pollution, impairment or destruction
of a natural resource will probably result from Millstone's operation,"
Justice Richard N. Palmer wrote in the court's decision.

The high court sent the case back to Superior Court, where a different judge
will hold a hearing on Burton's allegations about the permit process.
Justices said the lower court judge would be allowed to decide how to fix
any problems with the process - if any are found.

"Today's decision is a full vindication of the rights of all citizens to go
to court to protect the environment," Burton said Wednesday.

A spokesman for Millstone's owner, Richmond, Va.-based Dominion, said the
company is disappointed with the Supreme Court's decision. He said in a
statement that Burton's claims of bias and favoritism have no merit.

"We are confident that the Superior Court will acknowledge the integrity of
the department's administrative process, which has included 19 days of
public hearing," spokesman Jim Norvelle said.

Burton, a former lawyer who has been fighting Millstone's effort to renew
its wastewater discharge permit for more than a decade, wants a state court
to force Dominion to install a "closed" system that would recirculate water
to cool the reactors instead of continuously taking water from the Sound.

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