Michigan’s Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced on Wednesday that the state’s Palisades nuclear power plant, which closed down in 2022, will re-open with a $1.5 billion loan from the federal government, courtesy of the Biden Administration.
[RELATED: Commentary: Nuclear Energy Is the Only Way to Achieve Maine’s Climate Goals…]
“Thanks to an effective collaboration between the Biden-Harris Administration, the State of Michigan, the Michigan Legislature, and Holtec, work will begin shortly to restart operations at Palisades. Once complete, Palisades will become the first successfully restarted nuclear power plant in American history, protecting 600 union jobs at the plant, 1,100 in the community, and access to clean, reliable power for 800,000 homes,” said Gov. Whitmer in a press release.
Whitmer touted the $1.5 billion conditional loan as a way to help Michigan reach its goal of 100 percent clean energy by 2040.
The Palisades plant was acquired by New Jersey based Holtec International, an energy company, which also has operational bases in numerous foreign countries, including Ukraine and Brazil.
Following the 2022 acquisition, Holtec planned to decommission the plant entirely.
With the loan from the federal government, however, Holtec’s plan has changed, and they will now work to bring the plant back online by late 2025.
Whitmer claimed that once the plant is operational, it will provide enough electricity to power 800,000 households and will preserve at least 600 high paying jobs.
Whitmer, unlike many Democratic elected officials, has cast nuclear energy as an invaluable resource in meeting the state’s clean energy goals.
The Biden Administration appears to agree.
“Nuclear power is our single largest source of carbon free electricity, directly supporting 100,000 jobs across the country and hundreds of thousands more indirectly,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm.
[RELATED: The Destruction of a Massive Texas Solar Farm Highlights the Fragility of “Renewable Energy”…]
Despite the benefits of nuclear power, and despite Maine Gov. Janet Mills’ oft-repeated goal of getting Maine to 100 percent renewable energy, the Mills Administration and the Democrat-controlled legislature have shunned nuclear power.
Maine’s only nuclear power plant, the Maine Yankee Nuclear Power Plant, was shuttered after several attempts to ban nuclear power from the state via ballot initiative. At the time, the needed upgrades and repairs were deemed too inexpensive to justify the investment. The power station was fully decommissioned as of 2005, and has been inoperable since then.
Instead of supporting nuclear energy, Maine’s Democrat-led legislature has pushed forward with plans to fulfill renewable energy goals by other, less reliable means, such as intermittently useful solar panels and wind turbines.
[RELATED: ‘Unmitigated Carbon Super-Polluters:’ The Truth About Offshore Wind…]
Maine has been pushing forward with a controversial proposal to build massive floating wind turbines in the Gulf of Maine, a project that will require the construction of an industrial port on the historically untouched Sears Island, and has the potential to damage the state’s fishing industry.
In a recent op-ed written for the Maine Wire, Rep. Reagan Paul (R-Winterport) highlighted the potential for wind power to be a significantly greater pollutant than other “non-renewable” energy sources, given the materials and maintenance required to construct and run the turbines.
Paul is also one of the only lawmakers in the 131st Legislature who sponsored legislation that would have encouraged the development of nuclear power in Maine.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="27029 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=27029">4 Comments
It is truly fascinating to see how Maine Democrats believe in unicorns and the tooth fairy in the form of wind and solar when everywhere else in the world where gobs of taxpayer money ahs been wasted on these frivolous ideas has failed miserably.
Well, if the federal gov’t is going to spend money it doesn’t have the 1.5B they’ll spend here is at least useful and beneficial.
“Maine has been pushing forward with a controversial proposal to build massive floating wind turbines in the Gulf of Maine, a project that will require the construction of an industrial port on the historically untouched Sears Island, and has the potential to damage the state’s fishing industry.”
Could anything be more ludicrous than this? This, if pulled off, might just be the biggest scam ever perpetrated on the people of Maine. Mills wants Maine to achieve 100% of its energy from renewables. Talk about a fantasy. She needs to pull her head out of her ass and get a nuke plant here in Maine which is highly renewable, reliable, and about as clean as can be. There is nothing clean about solar and wind. They are pipe dreams.
100% renewables? What does that mean? It cannot mean Maine has generation plants that that annually produce as much as 100% of what Maine electric customers use yearly, because Maine is already there.
Obviously, it means something different as Maine democrats are not letting up one bit in expending ratepayer money to double down on more wind and solar.
It’s as if the Democrats want to destroy household budgets of Maine folks to make Massachusetts 100% renewables.
This is THE BIG SCAM
People need to VOTE to get these Democrats out of OFFICE. Wake up people!!!!