The former Vermont Yankee nuclear plant in Vernon still stores 60 steel-and-concrete casks of highly radioactive waste, and the land around them carries both chemical and radiological contamination. Now the site could become home to a new reactor, a battery storage facility or a data center. Vermonters have been told almost nothing about any of it.

Gov. Phil Scott, the Vermont Public Service Department and the Vermont Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel (NDCAP) should release the state's contamination report, make the lease terms public and hold open hearings before any new project moves forward.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), often called forever chemicals, have been found at the site. How much, and exactly where, is still unclear. The panel pushed back its May meeting to wait for a report from a state contractor. No findings have been shared publicly, and no new meeting has been scheduled.

The Legislature created this panel to keep the public informed about the cleanup, and it is supposed to meet three times a year. According to a commentary published in VTDigger, it has met only once in 2026.

At the same time, site owner NorthStar has leased the land to PowerTransitions, a Texas energy developer weighing options that include a small modular nuclear reactor or a data center. Advocates have asked what the lease says and who owns the radioactive waste. They are still waiting for answers.

Whatever anyone thinks about nuclear power or data centers, families along the Connecticut River deserve to know what is in the ground and what is coming next. Decisions this big should never be made behind closed doors.

Sign the petition to demand the contamination report, the lease terms and public hearings before the future of Vermont Yankee is decided without Vernon.