Reps. Schuitmaker, Proos, Accavitti, Byrnes, Caul, Elsenheimer, Espinoza, Garfield, Gonzales, Gosselin, Hansen, Hildenbrand, Jones, Kooiman, Lemmons, Jr., Lipsey, Meyer, Mortimer, Murphy, Newell, Plakas, Polidori, Robertson, Shaffer, Vander Veen, Wojno, Brandenburg, Casperson, Clemente, Kehrl, Moore, Nitz, Pavlov and Spade offered the following concurrent resolution:
House Concurrent Resolution No. 8.
A concurrent resolution to urge the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission to extend the operating license of the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant.
Whereas, The Palisades Nuclear Power Plant is in the process of renewing its operating license. The Palisades Nuclear Power Plant has been generating electricity safely, reliably, and efficiently at its facilities in Covert, Michigan, for 34 years under an operating license issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 1971. This license will expire in 2011; and
Whereas, The Palisades Nuclear Power Plant is a key electric load-serving entity for Consumers Energy, the second largest electric utility in Michigan, serving 1.75 million electric customers. The Palisades Nuclear Power Plant generates 789 megawatts of electricity, which represents about 18 percent of Consumers Energy's total electric capacity, and is enough to serve a community of 500,000; and
Whereas, In 1996, the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations characterized Palisades’ performance as "exemplary." In 2000, Palisades set a plant record for working four years without a lost-time accident and received the National Safety Council’s "Industry Leader" award for industrial safety in 1999; and
Whereas, It is vitally important to the citizens of Michigan that the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant continue to operate and generate electricity. The United States Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts that electricity demand will increase almost 50 percent over the next 20 years. Nuclear power, which provides about 20 percent of the electricity our nation consumes, is the second-largest source of electricity and is an important component of the national fuel mix. With the EIA expecting no new nuclear power plants to be constructed in the next 20 years, the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant provides electric generating capacity that is crucial to the future of our state and the nation; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That we urge the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission to extend the operating license of the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant; and be it further
Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission.