MONTPELIER, Vt. – A group critical of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant told state utility regulators Thursday they need to start over in their review of a request to extend the reactor’s state permit by 20 years.

The Public Service Board’s review was on hold while a federal court considered the Legislature’s effort to block the extension by preventing the board from completing its review.

U.S. District Judge J. Garvan Murtha ruled Jan. 19 in Brattleboro that lawmakers’ concern was the safety of the plant and that federal law pre-empts states from acting on matters of nuclear safety, leaving the issue to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The judge’s decision sent the case back to the Public Service Board, where plant owner Entergy Corp. last week asked the three-member panel to wrap up its review quickly and issue a 20-year extension based on a state certificate of public good. The plant license expires in March.

But the New England Coalition on Thursday said the board last took testimony on the application in 2009 and the group noted several developments since then.