Last November, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed into law a wind and solar energy mandate she boasted would make all of the state’s energy “100% clean” by 2040. Among her moves is an effective ban on natural gas power plants.
But only days later the bills started coming due. Michigan regulators authorized a 6.4% increase in electric rates that were a result of the green energy mandates. Those mandates were LESS stringent than the one’s Whitmer signed into law last year.
Rep. Brian Posthumus, the leader of the GOP House caucus, noted at the time that as that wind and solar power “cannot work” in cloudy and often frigid Michigan. He ridiculed this “pie in the sky” goal a “green energy fairy tale.”
He turned out to be right. This probably explains why the Biden administration has just announced a $1.5 billion loan to open the shuttered Palisades nuclear power plant in west Michigan. It would mark the first time a U.S. nuclear plant has reopened after being fully closed.
Progressives are rushing to embrace nuclear power in part because they are discovering a cold shower reality that wind and solar are inferior forms of power generation. “Nuclear power is our single largest source of carbon-free electricity,” gushed U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm at the announcement. “President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is supporting and expanding this vibrant clean energy workforce.” She almost sounds sincere.