A last-ditch effort to send hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks to Georgia's struggling Plant Vogtle nuclear project appears to be stuck in the U.S. Senate as lawmakers grapple with the prospect of a broader tax overhaul.
Boosters of the estimated $25 billion project, the only one of its kind left in the U.S., think the federal bill could throw an economic lifeline to the companies behind the venture as they decide whether to move ahead with construction or abandon work amid major cost overruns and deep delays.
Under current law, newly constructed nuclear reactors can receive federal tax credits for producing electricity only if they are put in service before 2021. The bill before Congress would lift the deadline.
The extension would help preserve the roughly $800 million in tax credits that Georgia Power, which has a nearly 46 percent share of the project, has been counting on as it builds a pair of new reactors at Plant Vogtle near Augusta.
A bill extending the tax credits sailed through the U.S. House nearly unanimously back in June, but it needs the Senate's approval before it can be sent to President Donald Trump's desk. And that's where the bill appears to be stuck, not because of outright opposition but the greater gravitational pull of a broader tax overhaul.
Read the whole story on myAJC: Lifeline to Ga. nuclear project stuck in the Senate
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