A new initiative has been announced to help Van Buren County prepare for the closure of the Palisades nuclear power plant in June. Southwest Michigan Planning Commission Director John Egelhaaf tells WSJM News the Palisades Economic Recovery Initiative is a $1.2 million dollar project made possible through grants. They include $969,000 from the U.S. Economic Development Administration. He says the initiative started last year with an initial goal of gathering data and developing a strategy and action plan.
“The whole idea of planning it in advance is we don’t have ready-made answers,, buy that the answers will grow out of the research and the collaboration, the deeper knowing, and that’s what we’re after,” Egelhaaf said.”
Once that plan is finalized, its implementation will begin. Egelhaaf says the initiative is also supported with $140,000 from the Consumers Energy Foundation, $53,000 from the Michigan Department of Treasury’s Energy Transition Impact Project, and $50,000 from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. Since going online in 1967, Palisades has been a major economic driver in the region, and although the closure will happen in June, decommissioning is expected to take 19 years. Egelhaaf says the planning commission is working with Market Van Buren and others on the initiative.
