Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell says he's disappointed a federal appeals court has ruled against the state Legislature's efforts to close the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant.
But Sorrell says there's a big silver lining to the ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. He says the court rejected Entergy's bid to collect more than $5 million in legal fees from the state of Vermont.
Entergy had argued that the state violated the U.S. Constitution by tying state approval of a new operating permit to Vermont utilities' ability to buy cut-rate power from Vermont Yankee. A finding of a constitutional violation would have triggered the payment of legal fees.
But the court ruled because a rate deal was never struck, the issue wasn't ripe.
Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.