COVERT TOWNSHIP, Mich. – A lawsuit aiming to prevent the reopening of a nuclear power plant in Southwest Michigan was dismissed in a federal court last week.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of three environmental groups last fall in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, alleges that an exemption issued by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in July 2025 to allow for the reopening of the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant in Covert Township violates the Atomic Energy Act.
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Palisades’ current owner, Holtec International, applied for the exemption in September 2023 in order to restart operations at the previously decommissioned plant, which was shut down in May 2022 under previous owners.
The court’s dismissal of the case reaffirms the NRC’s decision to exempt the company from provisions of the Atomic Energy Act that would prevent the Palisades plant from reopening under Holtec’s leadership, citing the NRC’s authority to do so under the act as enacted by Congress.
Still, many environmentalists and residents around the state are concerned by the plant’s future reopening, warning of the potential for “irreparable harm” to surrounding communities and ecosystems.
Meanwhile, Holtec announced on Thursday that the Palisades restart project reached a major milestone over the past few weeks as the last of major equipment installation and other upgrades were completed, allowing the company to transition to routine maintenance, testing, inspection, and “operational readiness work.”
“These accomplishments reflect the tremendous amount of work performed across the station throughout the restart effort,” said Enterprise Unit Head Steven Soler and Site Vice President Michael Schultheis in a news release. “The plant is coming back together, and the professionalism and dedication demonstrated by our workforce continue to move the project forward.”
Once complete, the project will be the first recommissioning of a retired nuclear power plant in U.S. history.