Midland citizens were furious in 1971. More than three years earlier, in December 1967, the Consumers Power Company announced the construction of two large nuclear reactors in Midland, its Midland Plant. These reactors were great news for Midland as their heat would provide steam for Dow Chemical’s Midland chemical plant and power two steam turbines that would produce electricity for all of Consumers Power’s electricity customers.
Although this Midland plant would stand next to 12,000 people at the Dow Chemical plants and close to over 36,000 people, Consumers said in their 1969 annual report that the plant is in a perfect location:
“The construction of large nuclear power plants is a major step forward in environmental protection. These clean, quiet and economical power plants can be located near load centers without necessarily being placed in pristine rural areas. They do not produce any combustion products and are subject to strict safety standards. “Ensures radiation protection.”
But in 1971, more than three years after the Midland plant was announced and Dow signed a steam contract, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) building permit for the Midland plant was blocked by what Midlanders felt was unnecessary bureaucracy.
Dow’s Texas operation costs less energy than Dow’s obsolete coal-fired power plants in Midland. So the Midlanders backed the Midland Plant with their promise of inexpensive steam and electricity because they thought it would secure their Dow jobs in Midland.
The Midlanders also wanted the Consumers Power nuclear power plant because they were tired of living in a town covered in soot from Dow’s coal-fired power plants. The Michigan Air Pollution Control Commission said that when the Midland facility went live, shutting down the older coal-fired power plants in the Midland area would eliminate 57 tons of particulate matter and 300 tons of sulfur dioxide from acid rain every day.
A May 1971 public opinion poll by the Response Analysis Corporation showed that 85% of Midland residents polled were in favor of building the nuclear power plant, while only 4% were against it.
But how do you convince all these Washington bureaucrats to get their building permits? Enter the Midland Chamber of Commerce (MCC) and an organization they co-founded, the Midland Nuclear Power Committee (MNPC), with a solution to Midlands frustration of 1971: a public demonstration of support for the Midland Plant to help the people of To show Washington that Midland wanted a large nuclear power plant in their city. The MCC raised $ 32,000 (over $ 216,000 in 2021) to fund a rally called Speak Up Now; From the point of view of an MCC member, the rally was an extravaganza.
The Midland County Fairgrounds was chosen as the location for Speak Up Now. A special three-part grandstand 120 feet long – longer than the large stage of the Midlands Center for the Arts – was built for the rally to accommodate the many speakers.
Think of the perfect October football game you’ve ever seen on a Michigan college campus. That was the weather on rally day on October 12, 1971 – the sun was shining, the temperature was around 60 degrees, and a light breeze was blowing. Dow and many companies in the city have given their employees time to attend the rally. Schoolchildren were given an excused absence to attend. Crowd estimates ranged from 10,000 to 20,000 (Midlands population was approximately 36,000). The state police counted 6,500 cars parked around the exhibition grounds.
The event began with the Breadfruit Rock Band, made up of students from the local high school. The combined bands from HH Dow High School and Midland High School followed the warm-up rock band. American Legion Berryhill Post 165 handled the raising of the flag. Dr. Arthur Turner, President of the Northwood Institute, introduced Robert “Fat Bob the Singing Plumber from Detroit” to Taylor (who gained fame on the Midwest’s highest rated radio show, JP McCarthy’s WJR Detroit Drive-Time Show). Fat Bob led the singing of the national anthem and then introduced the speakers as MC,
Fat Bob introduced a long list of Midland Plant supporters: the Mayor of Midland, the chairman of the Midland County Commission, the presidents of local and state chambers of commerce, union officials, the chairs of the Midland County Democratic and Midland County Republican parties.
Michigan Republican Senator Robert Griffin told the crowd he would be returning to Washington from Midland with news that approval for the Midland Pant needs to be expedited.
But the star of the show was Art Linkletter, a national television and radio star whose 1957 book Kids Say the Darndest Things! was # 1 on the bestseller list for two consecutive years (and among the 14 best-selling books in commercial publishing history). Linkletter arrived at the exhibition center by helicopter and said to the excited crowd: “If the environmentalists are so picky when it comes to the possibility of disturbance by little things and they want to live off candles and toast their bread by the campfire, they are very welcome but the rest of us want to go on living as we are used to… ”He went on to tell the crowd that he would be reporting on the Midland rally as a personal friend of President Nixon Nixon and those in power in Washington.
And by attending the rally, you can personally promote the Midland Plant. A truck parked at the rally had a 10 “x 20” sign on it for you to add your signature. The sign read “LICENSE for a NUCLER POWER PLANT” in the middle in large letters, followed by “GANTED BY CITIZENS OF THE MIDLAND MICHIGAN AREA”.
The final event on the rally program was the parade of this sign as the crowd sang “We Need Nuclear Power Now” to the tune of the Republic’s Battle Anthem. The lyrics they sang on that beautiful October day in 1971 were:
We are gathered here to ensure a bright future;
To get electricity for our work every day and to light our lamps at night.
For us and our children what we ask is right
We need nuclear power now.
Fame, fame, hallelujah!
Fame, fame, hallelujah!
Glory, glory hallelujah!
We need nuclear power now.
Cleaner air and clean water for medium-sized businesses is our stand,
For the good of our people and the future of our country.
Let’s give the people of Washington a license that we ask
We need nuclear power now.
Fame, fame, hallelujah!
Fame, fame, hallelujah!
Glory, glory hallelujah!
We need nuclear power now.
LeRoy “Lee” Smith’s full story of Consumers Power’s efforts to build two large nuclear reactors in Midland is told in his book Nearly Nuclear, A Mismanaged Energy Transition, published September 1 by Michigan State University Press and is available from Amazon. Barnes and Noble and Michigan State University Press. The story here is part of an article published in the July / August 2020 issue of Michigan History. A feature on Smith’s book endeavors will appear in the Midland Daily News on November 6th.
Comments are closed.