Committee advances bill to create Utah Energy Council, energy zones and advisory bodies for nuclear and other energy projects

A Utah legislative committee unanimously adopted the first substitute to House Bill 249 and gave the bill a favorable recommendation after a hearing in which sponsors and state officials described a package of policy changes intended to prepare Utah for potential nuclear power and other large energy projects.

Representative Albrecht, the bill sponsor, told the committee that House Bill 249 — titled "nuclear power amendments" in the bill text — sets up a Utah Energy Council to administer an Energy Development Investment Fund, map designated electric energy development zones and coordinate research and workforce efforts. "The bill is entitled nuclear power amendments but it takes a lot more into consideration besides nuclear," Representative Albrecht said in his presentation.

The bill would allow counties or municipally owned utilities to apply for designation of electric energy development zones, direct tax increment from those zones into an energy investment fund, and enable that fund to provide matching dollars for federal energy grants and to support workforce development, incentives and administrative costs. HB 249 also renames…