By Guy Page
Entergy, former owner of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, has announced it will donate the venerable Governor Hunt building to a non-profit in Vernon.
For Vernon, Entergy/Vermont Yankee is the gift that keeps on giving. From 1972 to 2014, Vermont Yankee generated low-cost, carbon-free electricity for all Vermont, and locally generated millions in tax dollars while employing on about 600 people in jobs that paid on average $100,000 with generous benefits. Vermont Yankee also was extremely generous with community donations of money, services, equipment and employee volunteer time.
Supporters of Vermont Yankee know the Gov. Hunt House as a meeting place for conferences, planning meetings, and pre-hearing buffets and pep talks. The following information was posted by the restorer on restorationtradesdirectory.com: “This 1790 Country style Federal House, built originally for Lt. Governor, Jonathan Hunt in Vernon, was restored for the owner [Vermont Yankee] to be used as a historic house museum. … The house had been altered in the main floor rooms, primarily by removing some walls, a stairway, and by reducing the fireplace sizes. Much of the original woodwork remained, though some of it had been modified. This work was sucessfully completed leaving the house standing with its original interior and exterior configuration.”
WHAT: Entergy Corporation executives will hand over the keys to the historic Governor Hunt House to the Friends of Vernon Center, a not-for-profit organization focused on revitalizing the Town of Vernon. Participants will be available for print and broadcast interviews and photographs.
WHEN: Monday, Dec. 16, 2019 at noon.
WHERE: Governor Hunt House, 322 Governor Hunt Road, Vernon, Vt.
WHO: Entergy Government Affairs Director Joe Lynch, Friends of Vernon Center President Arthur Miller.
Read more of Guy Page’s reports at the Vermont Daily Chronicle.
While the Hunt House is a wonderful gift, we should never forget the gifts that were stolen from the town of Vernon, the rest of Vermont to the tune of carbon free electricity, 600 high paying jobs and millions of local and state tax revenues by the closing of Vermont Yankee. The mystries emanating from Montpelier never cease.