Passage of a federal spending bill that would fund the government for the next fiscal year would also fund a military site in Saratoga County that is central to the region’s economy. New York congressional leaders are urging the bill’s passage.
The House of Representatives must vote to fund the government by midnight Thursday and has crafted an omnibus spending bill. The recently unveiled legislation is being lauded by Democratic Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, as well as Congressman Paul Tonko, as a “must-pass” bill.
Included in the bill is nearly $1.24 billion for Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory’s Kesselring site in West Milton in Saratoga County.
Last spring, it was revealed KAPL was at risk of having to shut down one of its naval training reactors by October, due to federal budget cuts. At the time, New York’s congressional delegation worked to have $16 million in FY 2014 funds restored to the site.
Capital Region Congressman Paul Tonko…
“Many will recall the fight that was made to make certain that we have the resources necessary to research and design the nuclear reactor core to power the Ohio class replacement submarine. That’s currently being designed at KAPL and the money in this budget will go into research and training reactor at Kesselring,” said Tonko.
In a release, Senator Schumer said without the funding, the program and the “jobs that go with it” would be in doubt.
“All we need now is for this bill to pass both the House and the Senate, and then the request heads straight to the president’s desk. I am urging my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and in both chambers of Congress to vote for this bill and help us maintain and expand these programs.”
The Kesselring site trains more than 1,000 cadets a year to operate nuclear reactors found on submarines and military aircraft carriers.
Senator Gillibrand said the inclusion of the funding in the spending bill is good news for the high-tech research and training taking place in the Capital District.
“The Kesselring Site in West Milton and the KAPL site in Schenectady are crucial for our military’s energy security, and now that this funding has been included in the new spending bill, we will be able to continue these cutting-edge programs for years to come.”
Congressman Tonko mentioned the economic benefit of keeping the Naval Reactors program afloat in the region.
“These investments for Kesselring and KAPL reach nearly $1.4 billion worth in economic benefit for the region and nearly 10,000 jobs that are translated from this investment, from the work that is done at KAPL and Kesslring.”
Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Todd Shimkus said according to a 2009 study commissioned by the navy, the impact on the Capital Region alone is around $400 million.
“And to give you some relative scale of what that means, we all know the huge importance that the Saratoga Race Course has, the thoroughbred and harness racing facility, here in our region; that’s about $200 million a year. So the U.S. Navy’s economic impact is almost double what the horse industry has here.”
Approximately 700 naval and civilian personnel are assigned to the nuclear reactor training site that was at risk of shutting down.
An email from KAPL spokesperson Gene Terwillinger said KAPL is appreciative of the included funding and that it “will allow KAPL to continue training Sailors and develop new technologies for the US Navy’s nuclear fleet.”
Other major investments included in the omnibus bill that will affect the region include $15 million to clean up the Scotia Navy Depot superfund site in Glenville, $58 million to construct new barracks at West Point, as well as money to support Youthbuild programs, which operate in communities including Schenectady and Poughkeepsie.
