Illinois’ Clean Energy bill sets path for future

 Bill Knight column for 9-16, 17 or 18, 2021

 Maybe Illinoisans can breathe easier, as a comprehensive energy bill ensuring the state achieves 100% carbon-free energy by 2050 passed the Senate 37-17 on Monday after the House approved it last week 83-33, with 11 Republican Yes votes.

The action occurred weeks after a report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that addressing climate change was almost “beyond reach”; days after a cloud of coal ash caused by an equipment failure at Springfield’s City Water, Light and Power (CWLP) plant hovered above the city; and hours after an urgent call for worldwide action by more than 220 medical and public-health journals.

Passage followed state Rep. Ann Williams (D-Chicago) brokering a deal changing a Senate bill that passed Sept. 3. The House kept most of the Senate’s language but mandated that coal plants cut emissions. The final draft requires 40% of Illinois’ power coming from renewable sources by 2030, and 50% by 2040.

 “This is a climate bill not a utility bill,” Williams said. “We need to address climate, but we also have to ensure that we keep our nuclear fleet operating to that we have a bridge to a renewable-energy future.”

Gov. Pritzer said the bill “puts consumers and climate first.”

The publicly owned CWLP and the Prairie State Generating Station in downstate Marissa – one of the largest polluters in the nation – could remain open until 2045 (longer if they eliminate emissions). But if they don’t cut emissions 45% by 2035, they could be closed.

Illinois’ privately owned coal- and oil-fired power plants would have to shut down by 2030. Natural gas plants have until 2045, and until then their carbon emissions in a year cannot exceed their average releases over the past three years.

Provisions include:

* zero carbon emissions by 2045,

* saving three nuclear plants and their jobs,

* $500 million/year to support wind and solar projects

* job-training programs for the renewable-energy sector,

* increasing electric vehicles to 1 million by 2030, with a $4,000 rebate/buyer, and

* mandating union-scale pay for large-scale renewable-energy projects.

 

Pritzker backed the compromise, as did the Clean Jobs Coalition environmental group and the labor-backed Climate Jobs Illinois group.

“All the pieces of legislation are critical for reliability, solar development, clean energy,” said state Rep. Marcus Evans (D-Chicago), “and of course, all the jobs.”

CWLP and Prairie State – backed by several communities’ $5 billion investment, with bonds due in 2035 – were one obstacle. Another was different priorities by key Democrat constituencies, environmentalists and labor. A third was Exelon, ComEd’s parent company, threatening to close its Byron and Dresden nuclear plants.

Exelon/ComEd got a generous bailout for its Quad Cities and Clinton nukes in 2016, when a $235 million annual rate-hike law was arranged by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and former Democratic Speaker Mike Madigan. That deal contributed to indictments of ComEd executives, lobbyists and others, and the utility giant agreeing to pay a $200 million fine.

Environmentalists objected to giving money to the profitable Exelon without climate-friendly provisions and attention to solar, which has been hurt by inaction. Last year, Illinois’ solar industry had almost 6,000 jobs, according to Clean Energy Trust and Environmental Entrepreneurs, but it’s lost hundreds of positions since because of uncertain government support.

For its part, labor fought to protect about 1,000 jobs at the nukes and maintain fossil-fuel work, including at CWLP and Prairie State.

Common ground was reached, perhaps because of a couple of realizations.

Despite having more financial clout than environmentalists, labor leaders might have wondered where any jobs will be if Illinois is less habitable. And environmentalists maybe accepted that people will have difficulty appreciating Nature and clean air and water without decent jobs.

Joe Duffy of Climate Jobs Illinois praised negotiators overcoming “considerable differences to pass an ambitious bill.”

Giving more money to Exelon was difficult for many to stomach, but cuts in coal-plant emissions and reduced funding made it passable. Pritzker approved subsidizing Exelon’s Byron, Dresden and also Braidwood nukes $694 million over five years, much lower than the corporation’s $6 billion request. The measure also prohibits Exelon/ComEd from making customers pay for any penalties tied to the criminal probe.

Besides planning for a sustainable state, residential consumers may pay $3 to $4.50 more a month, according to Evans, who said, “We’re serious about climate change; we’re serious about just transition; we’re serious about solar development, and we not only want to be a participant nationally. We want to be a leader.”

All in all, chipping in the price of a Frappuccino, a craft beer or two Happy Meals seems literally to be a small price to pay for a decent future.