Wiscasset officials are hopeful that a new state law that closed a tax exemption for the former Maine Yankee nuclear power plant will eventually result in more revenue flowing to the town.
But it’s still unclear when that revenue will arrive, or how much it will amount to, as the town and nuclear facility are now likely to enter negotiations to hammer out the details.
A lawsuit that the town filed seeking to reverse Maine Yankee’s tax exemption is also still in the works, but that could be dismissed now that the new legislation has rendered it moot.
The recently passed legislation, which was signed by Gov. Janet Mills last week, clarifies another state law that exempts entities that control air pollution from local property taxes.
State environmental officials had granted the tax exemption to Maine Yankee last year, after a previous tax agreement with Wiscasset expired.
The company has argued that it qualifies for the state tax exemption because it contains the radionuclides from spent nuclear fuel rods, preventing their release into the air. It has also claimed that it could have to pass additional tax costs onto regional electric customers, who pay into a fund that supports its operations.
But Wiscasset has argued the facility’s main purpose is to store energy, not air pollution, and that the loss of $1.6 million in local taxes has been detrimental. Wiscasset has taken its arguments to court and to the Maine Legislature, which resulted in the new law.
A lawsuit that it filed late last year is ongoing and was supposed to have another hearing Tuesday, but it was delayed due to the new legislation.
Now that Maine Yankee has lost its tax exemption, the company is ready to negotiate a new tax agreement with the town that’s “fair and reasonable … for all stakeholders, including ratepayers throughout Maine and all of New England,” according to spokesperson Kathleen Capstick.
Wiscasset Town Manager Dennis Simmons said the town is pleased with the Legislature’s decision to pass the law, and that it has determined the starting point for negotiations over the plant’s tax assessment.
Maine Yankee decommissioned the nuclear plant in 1996, and it now exists only to store and protect 550 metric tons of spent fuel rods while it waits for the federal government to fulfill a requirement to move the waste.
