We just did something truly historic in Illinois, at a time when we needed it most.
Here in the industrial heartland, Republican Governor Bruce Rauner today signed the Future Energy Jobs Bill, which will slash carbon emissions from the electric sector in half by 2030. In the face of a Trump presidency, we just took an ambitious leap forward to address the urgent threat of climate disruption.
This remarkable feat did not happen overnight; in fact, it took two years of hard work on behalf of Sierra Club’s grassroots volunteers across the state of Illinois, working shoulder to shoulder with our allies in the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition.
Over the past two years, clean energy advocates made countless lobby visits, made thousands of calls, sent tens of thousands of letters and petitions, and built a grassroots movement to win broad, bipartisan support for getting strong renewable energy policy for Illinois. After tough negotiations with other stakeholders, we emerged successfully, locking in our huge clean energy priorities into the Future Energy Jobs Bill. As a result, we will build enough wind and solar to power 1 million homes over the next decade, and our state’s major utilities must reduce our reliance on dirty fuels with $6 billion in new energy conservation programs.
Communities from across Illinois came together around equitable, smart and inclusive clean energy policy, and that’s where we scored some of our biggest wins. The Future Energy Jobs Bill will include:
- At least 4.3 gigawatts of new Illinois wind and solar power – as much capacity as two nuclear power plants and two coal plants combined
- Requirements that Ameren and ComEd, Illinois utilities, invest $6 billion in energy efficiency over the next decade
- A new Illinois Solar for All program that will invest up to $400 million in new solar projects in economically disadvantaged communities, and train those most in need of good jobs in the clean energy technologies of the future.
These are huge leaps forward for clean energy, but the Future Energy Jobs Bill was also a compromise that includes ratepayer support for two nuclear power plants. To be clear, the Sierra Club remains opposed to nuclear power, and we do not consider nuclear to be clean energy. While we fought for our clean energy priorities, we strongly opposed Exelon’s proposed “Low Carbon Portfolio Standard,” which would have subsidized all of Exelon’s six nuclear reactors, to the exclusion of renewable power. We defeated that proposal, and championed the Illinois Clean Jobs bill as a much better alternative. However, after nearly two years, legislative leaders and the Governor convened all stakeholders with the directive to agree on a single, comprehensive energy proposal. We fought and won to make renewable energy and energy efficiency the cornerstones of the compromise legislation, and of Illinois’ energy future.
Our work is not over until the state is powered by 100% clean energy. With the ramp up in wind, solar, and energy efficiency required by this bill, Illinois will be ready to replace our nuclear and coal plants with truly clean power when they retire.
Today, we celebrate. Tomorrow, we continue our work to reduce dangerous carbon pollution, support opportunities for family-sustaining jobs in Illinois’ energy economy, continue the shift away from coal, gas and nuclear and ensure that clean energy opportunity is prioritized for communities burdened for decades by pollution.
With federal climate action uncertain, it is more important than ever that states act decisively on climate change, and the Sierra Club’s incredible grassroots network worked hard to ensure that Illinois did just that.
Illinois Sierra Club Blog 