Latest news with #SenateBill127
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Business
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Vermont passes bill for towns to fund new construction, enacts other reforms
MONTPELIER, Vt. (ABC22/FOX44) – A long-awaited compromise on housing that gives towns more options to fund building projects, a bill addressing the impact of social media on children that will likely face challenges in court, and a reform that will seal many criminal history records were among ten bills Vermont Governor Phil Scott signed into law Thursday. Senate Bill 127, on housing, was perhaps the bill that took the most work by both chambers of the state assembly. The bill establishes the Community Housing Infrastructure Program (CHIP), which lets cities and towns fund housing projects by taking out loans to be repaid later, with the increased tax revenue gained from the projects. It was passed by the Vermont Senate this past March, and went through a long process of amendment before final passage May 30. VT Governor calls for action on housing legislation This bill on housing also includes a provision to award up to $20,000 to people helping to build houses in empty lots, and establishes a state program to offer low-interest loans to cities and towns aiming to improve their infrastructure. Scott made a special statement on Senate Bill 69, the Vermont Kids Code, which you can read more about in its own article below. Vermont signs Kids Code into law, faces legal challenges Senate Bill 12 changes the procedures for sealing someone's criminal history after they have completed serving a sentence. Under previous Vermont law, when asking for a crime to be sealed the burden of proof is on the petitioner to show that sealing 'serves the interests of justice', while S. 12 moves this burden over to the state. The governor also signed S. 45, which protects farmers from nuisance lawsuits for activities that comply with generally accepted farming practice, S. 122, which funds several groups that aid small businesses in the state and explores the development of a convention center, and S. 126, which aims to lower health care costs by allowing 'reference-based pricing,' along with four other bills. VT House passes healthcare 'redesign', now goes to Senate The Vermont state legislature is currently scheduled to adjourn for the summer on June 17, The adjournment has already been postponed at least once as the legislature said it needed more time to work out important reforms. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Business
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Louisiana wants to pave the way for small nuclear reactors, an untested technology in the U.S.
A small modular nuclear reactor is shown in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Photo courtesy of Last Energy) The Louisiana Legislature is working to speed up the permitting process to allow small nuclear reactors to be added to the state's portfolio of energy production. Although the technology is not yet in use in the United States, proponents see it as a low-emissions option to provide electricity in areas that struggle to get reliable power. Energy analysts say there are reasons why what are known as small modular reactors (SMRs) have not caught on yet in America – chief among them is the cost. Senate Bill 127, by Sen. Adam Bass, R-Bossier City, would allow the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality to create an expedited environmental permitting process for building small modular reactors. That would position the state to be ready when the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission allows the projects to move forward. The bill advanced out of the Senate Committee on Environmental Quality and heads next to the full Senate. 'You have companies in states like Texas that are starting that process,' LDEQ Secretary Aurelia Skipwith Giacometto said Tuesday at the State Capitol after the Senate committee hearing on Bass' bill. Supporters of the proposal hope SMRs can be used by not only utilities but also industrial facilities that need an exclusive, on-site power source. Gov. Jeff Landry has included nuclear energy as part of an 'all of the above' approach he supports to meet the state's power needs. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, small modular reactors range from one-tenth to one-fourth the size of a standard nuclear reactor. They can produce between 10-300 megawatts of power. That's compared to an estimated 2,142 megawatts Entergy reports its two nuclear plants in Louisiana generate combined. The cost to build small nuclear reactors is steep. A study last year from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis found the cost to construct an SMR averaged $25,000 per kilowatt generated as of 2023 – more than double the rate in 2015. For a 10-megawatt reactor – the power level for the smallest SMR – the total cost comes to about $250 million. Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety for the Union of Concerned Scientists, said that in order for utilities to buy into small nuclear reactors, it will take government subsidies and tax credits to make the cost worthwhile. 'If you're trying to make them smaller, they're gonna be less economic unless you come up with some way to compensate for this penalty for making them smaller,' Lyman told the Illuminator in a phone interview. '… There's no one in the world that's ordering SMRs in the amounts that would be needed to start to see the benefit of central manufacturing.' Lyman noted there are two current applications to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for new nuclear reactors in the U.S, and both 'are half-funded by the federal government and the other half funded by rich people like Bill Gates.' 'So there's actually a lot less going on that meets the eye, and again, the bottom line is cost …' he said. 'Utilities and users know how expensive these things are.' After a strong of nuclear power plant shutdowns in recent decades, there has been a push to bring them back online to address increasing energy needs. This momentum has carried over to introduce SMRs in the United States. Gartias said there is industry interest in placing SMRs near petrochemical plants to reduce their carbon footprint by using nuclear power to run the plants and offset some of their emissions. Although nuclear plants do not produce carbon dioxide, their critics note their environmental impact in the form of uranium mining and waste storage. The Alliance for Affordable Energy, a Louisiana-based consumer advocacy group, is not taking a stance on the Bass bill but wants more answers on who will pay for small modular reactor projects – and whether those costs will be passed down to ratepayers. 'We stopped building nuclear for a long time, but now there are really vague and not very recent examples of us building nuclear on time and on budget,' Jackson Voss, the alliance's climate policy coordinator, told the Illuminator. When asked by committee member Sen. Patrick Connick, R-Marrero, what would happen to the waste created by small modular reactors, Bass did not give a clear answer. He said some companies use the waste to generate more power. Connick said he wants more information about the waste before the next vote on the bill on the Senate floor, which has not been scheduled yet. There are no current proposals to place SMRs in Louisiana. A few projects in other states are under licensing review with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the first are projected to be built within the next 10 years. Louisiana recently joined several states in suing the federal government to loosen its regulations around nuclear power. The lawsuit claims blanket rules are not equal for reactors that vary in size. SMRs are safer and create less nuclear waste, so they should have different regulations from the full-sized reactors, the plaintiff states argue. 'Ultimately, if you're looking at what we are doing on the legislative side, see what we are doing when it comes to litigation, that puts in companies' eyes that Louisiana is a desirable state' for nuclear power, Giacometto said. Giacometto said the governor is onboard with the lawsuit. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Business
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Airport officials ‘disappointed' with failed funding bill
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Rising construction costs have created a challenge for regional airports in Rapid City and Sioux Falls to fund projects on their own. Senate Bill 127 would have taken some of the burden off. The bill would have allocated money to help fund projects like Sioux Falls Regional Airport's concourse expansion and Rapid City Regional Airport's terminal expansion. 'We felt that was a good fit and responsible for the state to participate as well to some extent,' Sioux Falls Regional Airport executive director Dan Letellier said. The bill failed on the House floor Monday with 37 yeas, 32 nays and one legislator excused. The legislation required a two-thirds majority vote to pass. Body found near Hill City is missing woman It's left airport officials with some tough decisions to make. Sioux Falls Regional Airport was hoping to move ahead with its $120 million plan to design a new concourse. It would add gates and ensure airfares don't go up. 'That was certainly a key component of our funding plan. And so, we have to decide do we try to take on more of that project ourselves with additional debt?' Letellier said. Rapid City is in the middle of its $222 million terminal expansion project. 'It's a disappointment,' Rapid City Regional Airport executive director Patrick Dames said. 'This definitely is going to slow our project down going forward into the future. We're in a position where we have to move forward.' South Dakota airports are public entities, but are limited in what funding they can receive and what they can charge. 'Airports are kind of like the mall,' Dames said. 'Basically, we are the infrastructure. The airlines are your anchor stores that come and operate in there. So, when it comes to what it is that we as an airport can charge, we're really limited in what we can charge.' The outcome is also disappointing to some travelers. 'I've traveled a lot of places, and I would travel a lot out of Sioux Falls, so I consider it a real asset to the city. I believe it would be even more of an asset with the appropriate funding,' Julie Deans said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
