"BRATTLEBORO -- Thirteen national labor organizations are urging Vermont’s Senate to take a timeout and to not vote on whether Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant should be allowed to continue to operate after its original license expiration date in 2012.

'For the state Legislature to take action now is premature,' said Scott Peterson, the vice president of communications of the Nuclear Energy Institute, which bills itself as the policy organization of the nuclear energy and technologies industry and participates in both the national and global policy-making process.

'NEI’s objective is to ensure the formation of policies that promote the beneficial uses of nuclear energy and technologies in the United States and around the world,' according to its Web site.

'The governor has this exactly right,' said Peterson. 'Let all these emotions that are inflamed come down to a level where all the parties can address this issue reasonably and rationally.' "

Bob Audette reports for the Bennington Banner February 21, 2010. [2]