BRATTLEBORO — Clay Turnbull and his Welsh CorgiChihuahua mix, Chicklett, are inseparable.
So when Turnbull, a representative of the New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution, tried to photograph Vermont Yankee’s current drycask storage facility for spent nuclear fuel last March, it was actually Chicklett who was first picked up on Entergy Nuclear surveillance cameras.
But it was Turnbull, 53, who was arrested and charged with trespassing at the former nuclear power plant, a misdemeanor charge that he’s fighting.
The incident took place March 3. Turnbull said he was there to take photographs to back up the coalition’s claim with the Public Service Board that the current drycask storage facility is visible from outside the plant’s perimeter fence.
He said the coalition is fighting Entergy Nuclear’s claims the storage facility is visible to someone in a boat on the Connecticut River.
Since then, the Public Service Board has granted Entergy a certificate of public good for the expanded fuelstorage facility, making the issue moot.
Turnbull said he was forced to delete his photographs by a Windham County deputy sheriff, who handcuffed and detained him for less than an hour before charging him with trespassing.
The coalition launched a fundraising campaign Monday in an attempt to raise $4,000 to pay Turnbull’s legal bills, calling the effort the “Chicklett Legal Defense Fund,” in honor of his dog.
Turnbull said Tuesday he wasn’t trespassing on Entergy property and had not crossed the fence that carried a warning. The Townsend resident said it was a matter of personal and professional ethics not to trespass.
“I did not cross or go beyond any sign,” he said. Turnbull’s attorney, Jean Kiewel of Brattleboro, filed a motion to dismiss earlier this summer, and Turnbull and Windham County Deputy State’s Attorney Steven Brown said they expect a decision from Windham Superior Court Judge Katherine Hayes within the month.
Brown said Turnbull was arrested in the “back side” of the Yankee property, not the front gate where almost all antinuclear protests have taken place.
The vast majority of those trespassing cases were dismissed over the years, as groups routinely would chain themselves to the gates leading to the plant. They would be arrested, charged by the Vernon or Vermont State Police and the charges dismissed.
The one notable exception came after a protest days after the events of Tropical Storm Irene.
“I’m not going to comment on the why or why not a case is charged at Vermont Yankee,” Brown said, acknowledging that many cases have been dropped over the years. “We look at all the cases on an individual basis.”
He said Entergy Nuclear, as the victim in the trespassing case, had been consulted.
“It’s fair to say they are supportive of the prosecution,” he said.
Entergy spokesman Martin Cohn said as far as he knew, a decision had not been made on the case, which, he pointed out, was brought by the county prosecutor.
Turnbull said his research into the tax maps in Vernon show that the land he was standing on actually is owned by TransCanada Inc., the energy giant that owns the Vernon hydroelectric dam just down river from Vermont Yankee.
Turnbull’s case is not a laughing matter, he said, saying the New England Coalition has not been one of the antinuclear groups that have routinely demonstrated at the plant and routinely gotten arrested.
If there’s any courtroom the coalition is in, it’s the Public Service Board, he said, fighting Yankee on regulatory matters over the years.
Ray Shadis, senior technical adviser for the coalition, said the prosecution of Turnbull by the state, at the insistence of Entergy, was spiteful.
“Neither Clay nor Chicklett set foot on posted land or crossed any fences,” Shadis said. “Entergy VY’s insistence on prosecuting this matter is not only legally outtolunch, it is dishonest, petty and spiteful.”
“The coalition would have preferred to have argued safety and security before the PSB, but all of that is federally preempted. We argued aesthetics because that is what we are allowed. The visibility of the nuclear fuel waste and its vulnerable positions will determine the redevelopment potential and even the recreational accessibility of the site,” Shadis said.
“That is why we advocated lower profile, more secure belowgrade storage, or even offsite storage,” he said.