The major new clean energy programs signed into law today by Governor Blagojevich are two major steps forward toward a cleaner, safer, and more affordable energy future for Illinois. After decades of dealing with the pollution and cost of relying solely on dirty coal and nuclear power, Illinois is now a national leader in promoting clean, renewable energy, and in helping consumer and businesses cut their electric bills by using less power.
The new requirement that 25% of Illinois’ electricity will come from renewable sources by the year 2025 will create new jobs in a pollution-free power industry. At the same time, utilities, the State of Illinois, and local governments will begin major new programs to reduce existing power use. By 2015, these programs are to cut existing power use 2% below today's levels. These conservation programs will deliver savings each and every month as our homes and businesses use less power. They will also create high-paying jobs in a clean, new energy economy.
By using less power overall, and by getting more and more of it from pollution-free sources like wind, Illinois is also taking two big steps to reducing our contribution to global warming. Scientists tell us that we need to reduce pollution by 80% to solve global warming, and that energy efficiency and renewable energy are the two most effective strategies for reaching these goals.
Historically, Illinois has lagged behind in implementing smart energy policies. Today, we move from the back of the pack to the head of the class in implementing smart energy policies for the future. This is one area where our leaders have agreed on major changes that are the right choices for Illiniosans today, and for our future.
August 28, 2007
August 24, 2007
BP: Put It in the Permit, Not Just the Press Release
We welcome BP's "promise" today to "not make use of the higher discharge limits" recently granted them by the State of Indiana. This is a welcome first step that BP has, perhaps belatedly, realized how much the people of this region love and depend on Lake Michigan, our Great Lake.
We now challenge BP to make this commitment not just in a press release, but in the legally binding permit they will operate under. That is the only way that the 12 million people who relay on Lake Michigan for drinking water will know for sure that the Clean Water Act will be there to enforce BP's new promise. Fixing the permit to require better pollution controls would add penalties if they fail to make good on this new commitment. That is the strongest guarantee that the people of this region can have that their water will get the best protection.
Every day Sierra Club works with other ammonia dischargers, mostly local governments on a strict budget, in this region to help them reduce their ammonia discharges to protect area waters. We stand ready to help BP identify solutions to help them avoid increasing ammonia discharges to the Lake. We are confident that if cash-strapped communities in Illinois can do it, so can BP.
Putting the promise in the permit will give this welcome new commitment the force of law. It will also erase the bad precedent the State of Indiana set by granting the original permit, and raise the bar for other industrial polluters around our Great Lake.
Put the promise in the permit, not just the press release.
We now challenge BP to make this commitment not just in a press release, but in the legally binding permit they will operate under. That is the only way that the 12 million people who relay on Lake Michigan for drinking water will know for sure that the Clean Water Act will be there to enforce BP's new promise. Fixing the permit to require better pollution controls would add penalties if they fail to make good on this new commitment. That is the strongest guarantee that the people of this region can have that their water will get the best protection.
Every day Sierra Club works with other ammonia dischargers, mostly local governments on a strict budget, in this region to help them reduce their ammonia discharges to protect area waters. We stand ready to help BP identify solutions to help them avoid increasing ammonia discharges to the Lake. We are confident that if cash-strapped communities in Illinois can do it, so can BP.
Putting the promise in the permit will give this welcome new commitment the force of law. It will also erase the bad precedent the State of Indiana set by granting the original permit, and raise the bar for other industrial polluters around our Great Lake.
Put the promise in the permit, not just the press release.
August 15, 2007
Summit on BP Pollution Proposal
I participated in a summit today at USEPA regional headquarters in Chicago on BP's proposal to increase pollution to Lake Michigan as part of their Whiting refinery expansion.
At the summit, there were many good ideas about how BP can do better - from citizen groups, the City of Chicago, and others. BP and Indiana didn't accept the recommendations, or commit to accepting them if they prove to be workable, but they didn't rule them out, either.
The closer we look at BP's proposal the more questions we have. I asked BP today about their mercury emissions, both directly into the lake in their wastewater, and through the air as part of a sludge incinerator they were operating on the property. They weren't prepared to answer that, but ultimately announced that they closed the incinerator in February of this year. If that's true, that is probably a postive step, although they didn't say where the sludge is going now.
Congressman Rahm Emmanuel did a great job of making crystal clear how angry and exercised the public and their elected officials are about this. He said that Lake Michigan is "our Grand Canyon, our Yellowstone," and claimed that BP wasn't being totally honest with the public about their reasons for avoiding full treatment of their effluent.
Unless BP wants to undo all the work they have done, and money they have spent, to build their image as a green company, at least in this major market, one has to believe they will soon come to their senses and adopt some of the promising alternatives that are coming forward from a variety of sources.
At the summit, there were many good ideas about how BP can do better - from citizen groups, the City of Chicago, and others. BP and Indiana didn't accept the recommendations, or commit to accepting them if they prove to be workable, but they didn't rule them out, either.
The closer we look at BP's proposal the more questions we have. I asked BP today about their mercury emissions, both directly into the lake in their wastewater, and through the air as part of a sludge incinerator they were operating on the property. They weren't prepared to answer that, but ultimately announced that they closed the incinerator in February of this year. If that's true, that is probably a postive step, although they didn't say where the sludge is going now.
Congressman Rahm Emmanuel did a great job of making crystal clear how angry and exercised the public and their elected officials are about this. He said that Lake Michigan is "our Grand Canyon, our Yellowstone," and claimed that BP wasn't being totally honest with the public about their reasons for avoiding full treatment of their effluent.
Unless BP wants to undo all the work they have done, and money they have spent, to build their image as a green company, at least in this major market, one has to believe they will soon come to their senses and adopt some of the promising alternatives that are coming forward from a variety of sources.
July 26, 2007
Power Shift
Historically, whenever Illinois has passed major energy legislation, environmentalists have made good arguments about the impacts of energy production and consumption, worked long and hard to educate legislators, and then ended up with the table scraps from the real deal (studies, task forces, voluntary goals, some new dollars dwarfed by the boatloads sent to coal and nuclear power…..).
Now, the General Assemlby is poised to approve a mandate that 25% of our electricity come from clean, renewable sources like wind by 2025; and to require that utilities plan for helping us customers use less energy.
The environmental benefits of the clean energy pieces of the rate deal are as significant as the shift in the politics of environmental protection in Illinois.
What’s changed? Why are we poised to set off in an entirely new direction on energy policy, instead of throwing more money at the same old, dirty system?
Here’s my take on some of the key factors -
-State Senator Don Harmon (D-Oak Park), seeing in January that the rate crisis would make energy one of the session’s top priority issues, introduced the Affordable, Clean Energy Standards Act (ACES). State Representative Deborah Graham (D-Oak Park) carried it in the Illinois House. The rate deal essentially incorporates the ACES goals for renewable energy (but strengthens them), and for major new energy efficiency programs.
-Attorney General Lisa Madigan and her team insisted that targets for renewable energy development and energy conservation be a part of any final deal. Her smart and dedicated team made sure that the deal worked for consumers and for our environment.
-ComEd and Ameren seem to be realizing that green power is good business, and they ended up to committing to reach ambitious, but achievable goals.
-Speaker Madigan and President Jones kept open minds about talks that started on the narrow topic of a rate freeze or refund. Many rank and file members of both parties understood the importance of clean energy as part of a rate solution, and spoke up for it.
-Governor Blagojevich, while not a direct party to the negotiations, did set the bar last fall with his Sustainable Energy Plan. The clean energy components of the rate deal reflect components of that plan, and his Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity will have a major role in running the new energy conservation programs.
-THE PEOPLE of Illinois are demanding better energy policies. We have never had more people from all over the state standing up to do their part to solve global warming.
From the back of the pack to setting the pace, these are truly exciting times in Illinois, and the results are good for us all.
Now, the General Assemlby is poised to approve a mandate that 25% of our electricity come from clean, renewable sources like wind by 2025; and to require that utilities plan for helping us customers use less energy.
The environmental benefits of the clean energy pieces of the rate deal are as significant as the shift in the politics of environmental protection in Illinois.
What’s changed? Why are we poised to set off in an entirely new direction on energy policy, instead of throwing more money at the same old, dirty system?
Here’s my take on some of the key factors -
-State Senator Don Harmon (D-Oak Park), seeing in January that the rate crisis would make energy one of the session’s top priority issues, introduced the Affordable, Clean Energy Standards Act (ACES). State Representative Deborah Graham (D-Oak Park) carried it in the Illinois House. The rate deal essentially incorporates the ACES goals for renewable energy (but strengthens them), and for major new energy efficiency programs.
-Attorney General Lisa Madigan and her team insisted that targets for renewable energy development and energy conservation be a part of any final deal. Her smart and dedicated team made sure that the deal worked for consumers and for our environment.
-ComEd and Ameren seem to be realizing that green power is good business, and they ended up to committing to reach ambitious, but achievable goals.
-Speaker Madigan and President Jones kept open minds about talks that started on the narrow topic of a rate freeze or refund. Many rank and file members of both parties understood the importance of clean energy as part of a rate solution, and spoke up for it.
-Governor Blagojevich, while not a direct party to the negotiations, did set the bar last fall with his Sustainable Energy Plan. The clean energy components of the rate deal reflect components of that plan, and his Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity will have a major role in running the new energy conservation programs.
-THE PEOPLE of Illinois are demanding better energy policies. We have never had more people from all over the state standing up to do their part to solve global warming.
From the back of the pack to setting the pace, these are truly exciting times in Illinois, and the results are good for us all.
July 15, 2007
1,000 New Reasons to Buy a Hybrid
Here's a bright idea from State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulis - a $1,000 rebate when you buy a hybrid and you get a car loan through a participating financial institution.
26% of Illinois' global warming pollution comes from cars and trucks. To hit the goals science tells us we need to reach, we have to make cars cleaner and encourage people to choose the most efficient car that meets their needs. Now there are $1,000 more reasons for Illinois drivers to make the right car choice.
26% of Illinois' global warming pollution comes from cars and trucks. To hit the goals science tells us we need to reach, we have to make cars cleaner and encourage people to choose the most efficient car that meets their needs. Now there are $1,000 more reasons for Illinois drivers to make the right car choice.
June 28, 2007
House sends iSPACE resolution to Blagojevich
The Illinois House today approved, 107-0, a joint resolution in support of iSPACE. It had been adopted by the Senate, so now goes to the Governor and the leaders negotiating the budget, calling for $100 million annually in new conservation land acquisition funding.
Legislators are about to take a break for the 4th of July holiday, and will return the week of July 9th to resume budget talks. If you see yours over the break, ask them for an update!
Legislators are about to take a break for the 4th of July holiday, and will return the week of July 9th to resume budget talks. If you see yours over the break, ask them for an update!
June 26, 2007
GOP Loses Solid Conservationist
I sincerely hope that Paul Froehlich's switch from Republican to Democrat, announced today, has more to do with the political issues cited in news coverage than with his strong, pro-environment voting record.
I am sure Froehlich will continue to support environmental protection as a Democrat, just as he did as a Republican. That's because he casts his votes based on the facts and the will of his constituents, and his partisan affiliation doesn't affect either.
The American conservation and environmental movement has historically had support from Republican leaders at critical times, whether it was Teddy Roosevelt protecting many of the public lands we enjoy today, or Richard Nixon overseeing the enactment of our modern environmental laws and agencies.
Here in Illinois, Republican legislators are a critical part of the growing bloc that is increasingly making our state a leader in environmental protection. Representatives Winters, Biggins, Coulson, Mulligan, Krause, Bassi, Tryon, Fortner, Pihos, Lindner, Cole, and Pritchard, and Senators Cronin, Althoff, Radogno, Peterson, and Dillard are among those who have been supportive of smart energy solutions, cleaner air, cleaner water, and protecting natural areas for future generations. (My apologies to any I missed - this is a quick list off the top of my head just to give you an idea.)
These numbers have been growing in recent years (as they have in the Democratic caucuses). For those of us who work for clean air and water, and all of us who value it, let's hope that trend keeps moving in the right direction. It makes for good public policy, and good politics as voters increasingly choose pro-environment candidates from both parties.
I am sure Froehlich will continue to support environmental protection as a Democrat, just as he did as a Republican. That's because he casts his votes based on the facts and the will of his constituents, and his partisan affiliation doesn't affect either.
The American conservation and environmental movement has historically had support from Republican leaders at critical times, whether it was Teddy Roosevelt protecting many of the public lands we enjoy today, or Richard Nixon overseeing the enactment of our modern environmental laws and agencies.
Here in Illinois, Republican legislators are a critical part of the growing bloc that is increasingly making our state a leader in environmental protection. Representatives Winters, Biggins, Coulson, Mulligan, Krause, Bassi, Tryon, Fortner, Pihos, Lindner, Cole, and Pritchard, and Senators Cronin, Althoff, Radogno, Peterson, and Dillard are among those who have been supportive of smart energy solutions, cleaner air, cleaner water, and protecting natural areas for future generations. (My apologies to any I missed - this is a quick list off the top of my head just to give you an idea.)
These numbers have been growing in recent years (as they have in the Democratic caucuses). For those of us who work for clean air and water, and all of us who value it, let's hope that trend keeps moving in the right direction. It makes for good public policy, and good politics as voters increasingly choose pro-environment candidates from both parties.
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