Tax breaks for a pipeline through southwest Warren County gained more steam Thursday as most supervisors agreed there would be financial benefits for the county and the schools.

Duke Energy Gas Transmission, a Houston-based gas pipeline development division of Charlotte, N.C.-based Duke Energy, is partnering with CenterPoint Energy Gas Transmission to develop the Southeast Supply Header, a 36-inch natural gas pipeline to connect supply in eastern Texas and north Louisiana to markets in the southeast and northeast.

The 270-mile pipeline would extend from a CenterPoint-owned hub in northeastern Louisiana to a hub in Mobile, Ala. partially owned by Duke Energy.

The company said construction on the project, the local portion of which is said to run about eight miles through the Yokena and Cedars areas, will create up to 3,000 jobs and up to 15 full-time jobs upon completion. In return, the company will ask for a tax break amounting to one-third of ad valorem taxes for 10 years. Using a &#8220fee-in-lieu” of taxes, the company would still kick in $125,000 to Warren County and the school district in each of the first 10 years, then $375,000 per year in subsequent years.

At Thursday’s informal meeting of supervisors, the board agreed that the rising cost of funding education is a key reason for considering the tax breaks.

&#8220There’s no down side to this,” District 1 Supervisor David McDonald said.

&#8220Education is a load. This is an opportunity for someone to come in and lighten that load,” District 5 Supervisor Richard George said.

Reached later, VWSD Superintendent James Price said he welcomes any chance for &#8220new money” to come to the district and cited the high cost of diesel for school buses as one example of a rising expense.

During the meeting, supervisors William Banks and Charles Selmon indicated support along those lines, while District 4 Supervisor and board president Carl Flanders adjusted his earlier opposition. He did say they should ask the company to accept a lesser exemption.

In other business, the board narrowed its choices to fill a post on the 11-member Vicksburg Convention & Visitors Bureau board.

The vacancy is for the one city-county appointee and a list of five names was sent to the city for analysis Thursday. Mayor Laurence Leyens said later that list was shortened to three.

In most public comments since the March resignation of Jo Wilson, supervisors agreed the appointee should have experience in either tourism or marketing. Another qualification, at the urging of District 3 Supervisor Charles Selmon, is that a woman be chosen.

Among the women still in the running are Lynn Foley, director of sales and marketing for the operator of four area hotels; Nelda Sampey, a bank executive; and restaurant owner Joyce May.

Other VCVB board members are appointed five each by city and county governments without consultation.

The board also heard from its attorney, Paul Winfield, on an upcoming request from legal counsel involved in the expected acquisition of Capella Wood Floors by Armstrong World Industries Inc.

Winfield told supervisors that the request will be to abandon a right-of-way the county received in 1901 by the landowner at the time that runs across the property on North Washington Street.

In March, Armstrong announced plans to purchase Capella, the engineered wood flooring plant started by Anderson-Tully Co., for an estimated $15 million.

The Lancaster, Pa.-based flooring giant operates 41 plants in 12 countries and has 14,900 employees worldwide. In 2005 it reported net sales of more than $3 billion. The acquisition of Capella is expected to increase the work force at the Vicksburg facility as it uses more of the plant’s capacity. Employees there have been assured they will retain their seniority and be part of any expansion.