Risky Revival: How Michigan’s Palisades nuclear plant could impact agriculture

[Yard sign design by Michigan Safe Energy Future-Kalamazoo Chapter and Shut Down Palisades Campaign. Photo by Kevin Kamps.]

On December 10, 2024, S. Nicole Lane published an article in Investigate Midwest entitled “Risky Revival: How Michigan’s Palisades nuclear plant could impact agriculture: While state leaders champion the Palisades reopening as an energy solution, local farmers remain divided over the potential threats to their land and water.”

The article reports:

Approximately 6,362 farms are within 50 miles of Palisades. In Van Buren County alone, where the plant is located, there are 838 farms. Michigan’s southwestern corner, home to 80% of the state’s farms, is often called the “blueberry capital of the world.” 

“A leak (and) this 150-year-old farm is done,” said Bill Adams, who runs Adams Blueberry Farms in Hartford, Michigan, 16 miles south of the plant. “Why would they restart something that old and sitting this long?”

The article also quotes Beyond Nuclear’s radioactive waste specialist, Kevin Kamps, who has watch-dogged Palisades for more than three decades. His hometown, Kalamazoo, Michigan, is just 35 miles downwind from the troubled, would-be zombie atomic reactor.