LAWRENCE (WKZO AM/FM) — The Michigan Public Service Commission has heard the public’s thoughts on the planned closure of the Palisades nuclear power plant and a lot of what they heard may be important to the inhabitants of Van Buren County, but not to relevant to the agency’s role in the matter.
The MPSC held hearings Monday in Lawrence on Consumers Energy’s request to end a contract to buy power from Palisades four years early. MPSC Chair Sally Talberg tells WSJM, our news partners in Van Buren County that they are looking at two things and two things only.
Will there be cost savings for customers and whether the utility will be able to provide power reliably with the Covert Township nuclear reactor off the grid.
Those are not necessarily questions that can be answered by members of the general public.
Consumers Energy is defending the move, saying it could result in ratepayer savings of anything from millions to over a billion if they are able to buy energy generated less expensively by a gas powered plant rather than the once futuristic and now antiquated nuclear facility on the lakeshore.
Contrary to some news reports Talberg says the Public Service Commission really doesn’t have the authority to order Entergy to keep the plant open, or block their corporate decisions.
They do have authority to make sure the shutdown does not hurt customers financially or hamper utility reliability.
All the other fallout from the closure: the economic impact, the loss of jobs, the loss of tax base, as well as the oversite on the decommissioning of the plant and the security of the nuclear wastes stored there, are not the responsibility of the MPSC.
That was however what many of those who attended the hearings wanted to talk about and their primary concerns.
