Payments-Equal-To-Taxes (PETT): An interpretation of Sections 116(c) (3) and 118(b) (4) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended

Conference · Tue Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:145651

Benson, A ^[1]; Moore, W E; Lesko, R ^[2]

---

1. DOE, Washington, DC (United States)
2. Deloitte & Touche, Washington, DC (United States)

The Payments-Equal-To-Taxes (PETT) program breaks new ground in government interaction by creating a tax-like transfer of funds from the federal government to states and local government. The PETT program is one of the financial assistance provisions of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended [42 U.S.C. 10101, et seq.] (NWPAA). The NWPAA charges the US DOE with, among other things, the responsibility for investigation of potential sites and for licensing, constructing, and operating a repository for high-level radioactive waste and spent fuel and an MRS facility. The NWPAA also called for financial assistance to the jurisdictions in which the repository and MRS facility are to be located. One of the financial impacts to the jurisdictions would be loss of tax revenue since the Supremacy clause of the Constitution prohibits jurisdictions from taxing the federal government. The objective of the PETT program is to provide payments that will offset this loss. Since the NWPAA authorizes continued site characterization activities only in the state of Nevada, the focus of this paper will be on the PETT program in Nevada. However, the information presented here generally applied to implementation of the program in other states where site characterization activities have been conducted.

• Research Organization: American Nuclear Society, La Grange Park, IL (United States); American Society of Civil Engineers, New York, NY (United States)
• OSTI ID: 145651
• Report Number(s): CONF-910435--Vol.2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
FINANCIAL INCENTIVES
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
SITE SELECTION
STATE GOVERNMENT
Yucca Mountain Project