State Representative Joey Andrews, economic development officials, and local leaders are continuing to push for the Palisades nuclear power plant to be reopened. Andrews spoke at the plant.
“I just want to point out how unifying this issue has been for our community, for our community in both business and labor,” says Andrews. “The nuclear plant here represents hundreds of jobs, plus an extra 1,000-plus jobs during refueling and outages.”
Andrews was joined by several labor union leaders and Arthur Havlicek, president and CEO of the Southwest Michigan Regional Chamber of Commerce.
“When businesses look to invest anywhere in any community or any state, the reliability of the grid is one of their chief concerns because that affects their ability to do business,” says Havlicek. “On behalf of our members, we are fully supportive of bringing this plant online.”
Palisades owner Holtec International has applied for funding to restart the plant from the U.S. Department of Energy. Governor Gretchen Whitmer has also expressed support and has said in letters she will do whatever is necessary to bring the Van Buren County facility back online. One big issue facing Palisades is the money to restart the plant, with Holtec being around $300 million short of what is needed. Andrews says there is a chance that could be in the state budget, which is currently under negotiation.
