NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. -
The future of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant in Vernon, Vt. moved to a New York City courtroom.
That's where, before three members of the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals, attorneys representing the State of Vermont and the plant's owner Entergy faced off.
Each side had 15 minutes to present its side that could determine if a state can shut down a nuclear power plant. Legal experts call it an unprecedented case.
"It was a great argument. You had two really excellent attorneys," says Cheryl Hanna, Vermont Law School professor.
Hanna was in court for the Vermont Yankee hearing.
She says Entergy again made a good argument that Vermont's push to close Yankee was all about safety, which is the role of the federal government. She says the state did better this time and made a strong argument that mistakes had been made during the last trial.
"I think one if not two members of the three member bench were at least willing to be skeptical of what happened at the lower court. That doesn't mean that Entergy will lose but I think that the state did a very good of having the court take the appeal seriously," says Hanna.
Hanna says the case is now up to the three judges, two were appointed by President Barack Obama and the third by former President George W. Bush.
"I don't expect there to be a ruling anytime soon," says Hanna.
Hanna says that ruling could take a year and the losing side could appeal to the full Second Circuit Court.
And there's always the possibility of an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The case traces back to 2006 when the legislature passed Act 260 which required Yankee to get the okay from lawmakers to keep operating past its scheduled shutdown. That okay never came.
In April 2011, Entergy sued the state in federal court to keep the plant running.
In January 2012, after a trial in Brattleboro, Judge J. Garvan Murtha ruled in favor of Entergy. That decision was appealed to the Second Circuit and arguments were heard Monday.
Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell was in court, though the state hired and was represented by an outside attorney.
"You can't predict with certainty what the court is going to do but we made the arguments we wanted to make and we made them in the way we wanted to make them. And we've got ground for cautious optimism but it's out of our hands now. But we've done our best and we'll wait with everyone else for the decision," says Sorrell.
Sorrell estimates that Vermont has spent about $600,000 on the case. Entergy has spent more than four million dollars. The loser of the case could be responsible for both sides attorney's fees.
Entergy representatives also said their attorneys did a good job.
"The arguments made by Kathleen Sullivan, who is our attorney representing Entergy in this hearing, were very effectively made. It is our belief that Judge Murtha decided correctly that Vermont had over stepped its bounds," says Jim Steets, Entergy Communications Director.
Entergy says it's committed to safely running the plant, which has about 600 workers.
