42 Comments

I guess Whitmer doesn't know what "baseload" is. Welcome to blackouts, Michiganders. You voted for it.

Expand full comment

The smug looks on their faces says it all, We just forced our will on people on something that won't affect them in the least. Miserable people who are never done improving our lives, if we like it or not.

Expand full comment

Just recently:

“Going forward nuclear energy will be a piece of our clean energy strategy." - Gretchen Whitmer

https://twitter.com/NZNGlobal/status/1733387239403499632

Possibly trying to appease all voters. Am unsure what this means in meaningful actions though.

Expand full comment

“It's your land, you should have the freedom to use it however you want.”

Then how come you need to take political power of localities away and give it to yourself? Oh right cuz they didn’t want the right thing, got it

Expand full comment

To be fair when Commonwealth Edison started building nuclear power plants in the exurban agriculture ring around Chicago there were a lot of locals who thought the ComEd execs in downtown Chicago were big footing them as well. There difference is that in time the locals in places like Braidwood and Byron Illinois because the biggest boosters of nuclear in fact far more supportive of your average voter in the Chicago loop. The difference between today and then it is highly unlikely voters of todays wind and solar host communities will ever become as supportive of these technologies as nuclear host communities have.

Expand full comment

The Highland Clearances redux.

Expand full comment

The climate-change issue has morphied into a political malaise. Given way to the rise of the concentration of power of policitical parties, states, and agencies-thru laws enacted to give more central control & deny municipalities of their autonomy-the blending of corprate interest-with passing of regulations for protection & market share gains, tax credits, exemption of rules, etc. By defenition this is fascisim! And last but not least socialism as seen with laws passed to strip people of the property cars, travel, etc.

Let's talk a look a Michigan from the EIA:

Michigan has 44 natural gas storage fields with almost 1.1 trillion cubic feet of underground storage capacity, more than any other state and almost one-eighth of the nation's natural gas storage capacity.

Electricity net generation from natural gas-fired power plants has increased from 11% of Michigan's in-state generation in 2010 to 34% in 2022.

Renewables provided 12% of Michigan's electricity net generation in 2022, and wind energy accounted for about two-thirds of that power. Michigan ranks 16th among states in the amount of electricity generated by wind energy.

Michigan is among the top five states in residential sector petroleum use and ranks first in residential sector consumption of propane.

Michigan’s largest hydroelectric facility is the Ludington pumped-storage plant on the shores of Lake Michigan on the Lower Peninsula.

With more than 2,000 megawatts of capacity, it is one of the ten largest pumped storage power plants in the world.

Michigan is a remant of America past manafucaturing hey day as seen by it's infrastructure & economy. The auto industry is there along with 51 oil refineries. A wide variety of commodity crops, fruits, and vegetables are grown in Michigan, making it second only to California among US states in the diversity of its agriculture. These features and the energy-mostly in the form of fossil fuels or some derivative-can not be over looked which seems to be the case.

Expand full comment

The overlords at the UN in charge of Agendas 21 and 30 are well aware they need to get into the zoning enforcement business to implement their top to bottom control mechanisms. Rosa Koire, a California Certified Real Estate Appraiser, and CalDOT District Branch Chief, discovered this in her appraisal work for Right-of-Way projects in California. She passed away in 2021, but her website is still being maintained if anyone wants more information. She is also author of the book "Behind the Green Mask". Here is more information on her work. https://www.democratsagainstunagenda21.com/

Expand full comment

This is all only possible because “emergency”, which is nonexistent.

And they don’t even realize that after building the 300+ square miles of renewable garbage they will still have to build the nuclear.

Also, I don’t see a number in there, how much MW they plan to install?

Expand full comment

Are there other out there who appreciate the irony of this story? Dems have bee SCREAMING for 40 years for community consent and abuse of eminent domain, but now that it's their ox that's been gored, they have suddenly found Jesus.

Iowa, Nebraska and the Dakotas have all seen CO2 pipeline projects die because people didn't want them in their backyard, in spite of the fact that the Dems IRA is heavily dependent on carbon capture.

What ever became of the pledge "and liberty and justice for all."

Expand full comment

Rick Dunn, GM of Benton County PUD in Kennewick WA has written eloquently about trying to preserve the Horse Heaven Hills from a large wind farm and Gov inslee's attempt to thwart local desires, not unlike Whitmer's efforts. You are probably aware of this situation, but Dunn's writing is so good that he might be an excellent guest on the podcast.

Expand full comment

This situation is at least in part a result of the Reynolds v. Sims case in 1964, in which the Supreme Court invalidated most states' Constitutions, wherein, mirroring the United States Constitution, each county had one senator (or two), regardless of population. The intent of the US senate consisting of two members from each state was to protect states with small populations from being abused by the others. The original intent was that Senators would represent their states' legislatures. This was undone by the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, but the numbers of Senators for the states was not changed. The intent in most state constitutions was that each county's Senator would represent the county government. That was undone by Reynolds v. Sims, which screwed rural counties.

Expand full comment

A group of us lobbying against this package of laws called them, “The Michigan Blackout Bundle.” This massive centralization of power in Michigan was rushed through the House and Senate with just a few partisan votes making the difference. The bureaucrats have circumvented the engineers. The people didn’t want this legislation, and the legislatures didn’t have a mandate to pass it. As another comment noted, Michiganders were against. I’m telling my friends and family in Michigan to get their generators and fuel on site, they’re going to need them. Also, look at Germany and California to see what’s ahead for Michigan. If you live in Michigan get ready to pony-up a lot more money to pay your electric bill. The state motto should be changed to the Water Winter Wattless Land.

Expand full comment

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy estimates energy costs will rise anywhere from $130 to $250 per month for the average user.

Expand full comment

I wonder what a Michigan citizen will have to pay when they’re not receiving electrical service? Maybe they can means test a tax on that? Only rich people will have to pay for not having power, it’s free not to get electricity if your poor. Maybe electrical prices will go down if they just don’t produce the electricity? Just eliminate all the CO2, we beat around the bush?

Expand full comment

The last I was aware, local authorities also do not have final jurisdiction or veto authority over nuclear plant siting. Local governments/communities may have the opportunity to provide input or express concerns, but ultimately state and federal government has the say on where plants will be located.

Making this a political football feels to me like a bit of a red herring. Why is it okay for state/federal government to control location of nuclear power (typically backed more by Republicans) but not to control location of renewable energy (typically backed more by Democrats). The tone of Mr. Bryce's would seem to ignore this contradiction. Both would be considered "critical infrastructure".

Expand full comment

A good point as far as it goes, and maybe Robert can comment on it. But nobody is trying to site nuclear plants anywhere in the U.S. The renewable industry is trying to weasel its way onto the landscape at every opportunity b/c of all the $ incentivizing them to do so, so you have more frequent conflicts between wind & solar vs. local citizens. One could imagine a situation down the road where b/c of the "triple nuclear by 2050" commitment each state would see a significant uptick in the siting of new nuclear which would help correct the imbalance.

Expand full comment

And it would be over quite considerably less land needed.

Expand full comment

Facepalm, shaking my head, etc. Leave it to the Dems to self-sabotage in all sorts of creative ways. They may as well be holding up a banner that says, "We didn't really want the supermajority after all." There's no other issue I've seen where they scream the loudest and know the least. And do more real-world damage. It's also political suicide! What are they thinking??

Expand full comment

They are taking US all with them. So many of their theories have gaping holes in them that when you point them out, Denier or Heretic is all you hear back.

Expand full comment

I stopped following Miss America competition maybe 45+ years ago, it just is not a thing in my life especially since 3rd wave Feminism hit, THAT SAID, this young Lady is extremely impressive in this manner as the peer pressure she must have had to deal with. As much as I admire and follow Mr. Bryce's work, anybody with Nuclear Doubts should read "Power to Save the World" by Gwyneth Craven. Noting I read by Mr. Bryce over 20 years ago has been disproven, keep up the solid work, truth should win out.

Expand full comment

I agree that she is very impressive, for any age, and also a bit inspiring to see and hear this level of both confidence and humility from someone her age. I had to “rewind”, however, to make sure I heard her correctly when she said “millions died” from the atomic bombings in Japan. Nowhere near that level of deaths occurred in Japan, although millions would be a likely number with weapons of today. I suppose in the context of the point she was making it’s a nit, but probably not a small one within her message of how narratives can overtake the facts to stymie the use of nuclear power.

Expand full comment