PUBLIC UTILITY DISTRICT (PUD) PRIVILEGE TAX

43.52.460 STEAM GENERATED ELECTRICITY PLANT

Description: The Hanford N-Reactor is exempt from PUD tax. When the exemption for thermal generating facilities was removed in 1971, the N-Reactor was grandfathered so that it retained its previous exempt status.

Purpose: The purpose of grandfathering the N-Reactor was to recognize that the long-term financial planning associated with construction and operation of this facility was done under the assumption that its exempt status would be maintained.

Category/Year Enacted: Economic development; 1957.

Primary Beneficiaries: Users of electricity produced by the N-Reactor.

Conflict With Other Programs: None evident.

Tax Savings ($000): None; according to Energy Northwest (formerly the Washington Public Power Supply System), the U.S. Department of Energy is in the process of dismantling the N-Reactor, making this exemption superfluous.