Can we just take a minute here and tell you how absolutely delighted we are to see someone in Montpelier finally begin to play a little hardball on the decommissioning issue? Douglas and the GOP minority have made it amply clear that they are willing to backstop Entergy’s drive to evade its obligations where Vermont Yankee is concerned. That being the case, it’s either hardball or game over, with taxpayers potentially on the hook for a billion in clean-up costs.

Republican rumblings that the Speaker’s procedural tactic will bruise relations between the parties reminds VDB of the national Republican talking point on budget reconciliation: an attempt to turn the discussion away from the issue and toward the eye-glazing specifics of procedure. Because it’s very hard to believe that offending the opposition will make much difference when they’re standing four-square against you anyway.

And it’s very hard to believe that taxpayers won’t ultimately stand with the party protecting them from the delayed tax-increases implicit in a future taxpayer-funded clean-up. You go, Shap Smith.