Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Bingaman, members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. I have a prepared statement for the record and ask your permission to enter that statement in the record and provide a short summary here this morning.

I am Michael Wallace, executive vice president of Constellation Energy and president of Constellation Generation Group. I want to take just a moment to tell you about Constellation Energy. Constellation Energy, a Fortune 200 company based in Baltimore, is the nation’s leading competitive supplier of electricity to large and industrial customers and the nation’s largest wholesale power seller.  Constellation Energy also manages fuels and energy services on behalf of energy intensive industries and utilities. The company delivers electricity and natural gas through the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE), its regulated utility in Maryland. We are the owners of 107 generating units at 35 different locations in 11 states, totaling approximately 12,500 megawatts of generation capacity. In 2004, the combined revenues of the integrated energy company totaled more that $12.5 billion, and we are the fastest growing Fortune 500 Company over the past two years.

Our portfolio, based on electricity produced, is approximately 50 percent nuclear, 35 percent coal-fired, 7 percent gas-fired and 5 percent renewables. We own and operate the Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant in Maryland, and the Nine Mile Point and Ginna nuclear stations in New York State.

Constellation is part of the NuStart consortium that is preparing an application to the NRC for a license that would allow us to build and operate a new nuclear plant. Additionally, in December 2004, we submitted a proposal to the Department of Energy (DOE) for studies that could lead to an application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for an Early Site Permit as part of the Nuclear Power 2010 program. So, as you can tell, we have a vested interest in the continued success of Nuclear Power 2010, and we’re bullish on the future of nuclear power.