Calvert County Authorizes Property Tax Credit for Possible New Reactor

Off the wire:

In a move that lays the groundwork for possible selection of Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant as a site for one of the first expansion projects of a U.S. nuclear power plant in more than 30 years, the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) for Calvert County today voted to enter into an Agreement with Constellation Generation Group, LLC (CGG) that could help add a third reactor at the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Lusby, Md., within the next decade.

The BOCC recognizes the impact such an expansion would have on the County through job creation and tax payments, as well as the importance of nuclear energy in meeting the country's growing energy demands and the safety record and emissions-free technology inherent in nuclear energy. Consequently, the BOCC views this proposed project as a strong complement to the County's economic development initiatives.

The proposed expansion promises to bring approximately 400 new, permanent jobs to the County in addition to the 800+ jobs currently on site, as well as approximately 3,200 construction jobs during the five-year construction phase.

In addition, the potential tax benefits to the County and State are staggering: in FY2006, Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, Inc. (Constellation), which is a subsidiary of CGG, contributed $15.5 million in taxes to Calvert County alone and the expansion under consideration will net a significant amount of additional, new tax revenues. Since the power plant began paying taxes in 1973, more than $173 million dollars has been paid in taxes to Calvert County. This makes Constellation the single largest taxpayer in Calvert County.

If you're into connecting the dots, you'd probably want to click here and here, and then think things over for a while.

Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy, Environment. Energy, Politics Technology, Economics, Constellation Energy Areva, Unistar

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