MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) -- A group that advocates for state legislatures has filed court papers saying a federal judge erred when he relied on excerpts from Vermont's legislative record for a ruling that sharply limited the state's authority over Entergy Corp.'s Vermont Yankee nuclear plant.
The National Conference of State Legislatures was among several parties filing briefs supporting the state's appeal of a January ruling by Judge J. Garvan Murtha of the U.S. District Court in Brattleboro.
Murtha ruled lawmakers were improperly motivated by nuclear safety — the sole jurisdiction of the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission — when they passed laws saying they had to give the OK for Vermont Yankee to operate past this March.
The NCSL says Murtha improperly interfered with legislative prerogatives, and failed to acknowledge lawmakers had other motivations.
