by Michael Shellenberger

In another big victory for pro-nuclear forces, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy has signed legislation to prevent that state's sole nuclear plant from closing.

"The importance of this asset," Governor Molloy wrote in his press release announcing he had signed the bill, "to both the state and the region cannot be overstated."

By "this asset" Governor Malloy refers to Millstone Nuclear Power Plant, which provides 96 percent of Connecticut's zero-carbon electricity.

In preventing Millstone from closing prematurely, Governor Malloy has done more to secure his legacy as a champion of climate protection and clean air than anything else he has done since taking office in 2011 — and more than he likely will do before he leaves office.

The victory comes just a week and a half after the pro-nuclear victory over anti-nuclear forces in South Korea, where a citizen jury voted 60 percent to 40 percent to continue that nation's nuclear build-out.

Environmental Progress was intensively involved in advocating to save Millstone, publishing an open letter signed by the world's leading climate scientists and environmentalists — as well as Pulitzer Prize-winner Richard Rhodes and Harvard's Stephen Pinker — and publishing an in-depth analysis of the environmental consequences that would result from its closure.