LAWRENCE, Mich. (AP) - The Michigan Public Service Commission is deciding whether ending a nuclear power purchase contract would be a cost-saving decision for energy customers.
The commission held back-to-back public meetings Monday in Lawrence to focus on Consumers Energy’s plan to terminate a 15-year contract with Entergy Corp., which purchased the Palisades nuclear plant from Consumers Energy in 2007.
The original 2007 agreement committed Consumers Energy to purchase nearly all of the power generated by the Palisades plant through 2022. But citing changing market conditions, Entergy announced late last year that it intends to shut down the plant in October 2018.
Commissioners are considering whether Consumers Energy can recover, through customer utility rates, a $172 million buyout payment to Entergy and if there is actual cost savings, according to the panel’s chairperson, Sally Talberg. Consumers Energy argues that customers would save between $54 million and $1.1 billion by ending the contract early.
About 100 area residents, elected officials and special interest groups attended the Monday meetings that were held to solicit feedback from people affected by the closure. Palisades is one of the largest employers and taxpayers in Van Buren County.
Mark Muhich, chairman of the Sierra Club Nuclear Free Michigan Committee, supported the plant’s closure and told the commission that nuclear energy isn’t safe.
“They haven’t figured out any way of dealing with the thousands of tons of spent fuel there, which is sitting 150 yards from Lake Michigan,” Muhich said.
Others, including Covert Schools Superintendent Bobbi Morehead, said the area has a good relationship with the plant. Morehead noted the company has provided the district with funding, tax dollars and supplies for students.
“We would like to be able to count on this reliable partner in the community that makes it easy to budget each year,” Morehead said.
Talberg noted that issues related to safety and economic impact weren’t the purview of the regulatory commission, but she acknowledged the commission is “cognizant of the broader implications of this decision.”
The commission will decide on Consumers Energy’s proposal by August.
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