* Gov. Pritzker today at his news conference…
We have come a long way in assisting all parties in getting to yes. And I continue to work to bring comprehensive clean, equitable, and ethical energy reform to the state of Illinois. That, and nothing less, is what the people of this state deserve the proposed climate bill, worked on by all parties, preserves for decades jobs that already exists, and creates new clean energy jobs, too. Most importantly, it does so well protecting consumers and fighting climate change.
But let me make myself perfectly clear. Our long-term goal is to create meaningful, climate change policy that makes Illinois, a leader in protecting our people, the environment, and the clean energy industry that we can grow. I will not sign a bill that does not match the gravity of this moment.
That means that a bill claiming to contain meaningful decarbonization measures, but does not pass muster on the details and does not move us toward a clean energy economy is not a real climate bill.
The bill I put forward is about the health and the well-being of our communities and a measurably precious resource, as reinforced by the events of the last year.
We can decarbonize while creating and maintaining good-paying union jobs. That’s why I held working group sessions to put all the multiple clean energy on the table for negotiations. My door remains open to all parties willing to find reasonable compromise that secures Illinois clean energy leadership.
Please excuse any transcription errors.
…Adding… In response to a question…
Here’s what’s happening: People are bringing up issues that they had settled on months ago, to try to bring them up now at the last minute hoping that everybody will say, well that’s okay we’ll just let that one go, so that we can get a bill. That’s not how it works.
We set out principles here. We’re going to get those principles, hard and fast in this bill, and that is what we need. I mean honestly, who here does not believe that we are headed for a future that we should be headed for a future in Illinois, of leadership in clean energy. We should have an industry, a whole industry of electric vehicles in Illinois based upon the clean energy principles that we set out. We should have a cleaner environment as a result of what we do in this bill. Those are enormously important principles to have in the bill and they are in the bill. Everything that gets brought up that takes us back from decarbonisation is a backward movement. I’m not going to let it happen.
He then predicted the process would take another few weeks or a month.
- RNUG - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 11:44 am:
Don’t let almost good enough be the enemy of perfect.
- Biker - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 11:55 am:
They should pass the solar PV incentives by themselves. Illinois was #8 in small scale solar installs last year. We’re gunna miss construction season without it and those installers will leave town out of necessity. We’re building something big here. Let’s not throw away the growth sector to cling to a poor financial decision on a coal plant that should have never been built, and will more than likely shut down in the next 5 years.
- En Err Gee - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 11:57 am:
Governor chicken little strikes again. The sky is always falling until it isn’t.
- phocion - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 11:59 am:
If the Governor wants to get it done, he should get a new Deputy Governor.
- Anne - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 12:04 pm:
==People are bringing up issues==
I hope that they can figure these out sooner rather than later.
- Ok - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 12:04 pm:
Labor can’t seem to manage all their members. And each local seems to have a different issue that comes up every time another one is solved.
- Disappointed Voter - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 12:08 pm:
A little confused about why the governor and Anne Caprara decided to have someone who is so disliked be the face for their office during negotiations
- Al - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 12:13 pm:
I still like the 3% Royalty on Coal. That way all the high sulphur high energy coking coal for steel manufacturing which goes to China would bring in a few dimes. Still uncertain of keeping past their estimated useful life nuclear plants open with public subsidies. Nuclear can be very dangerous and there is no LT storage for spent fuel rods. They went online in the 1980s, while Prairie State Energy is only nine years old. Nearly 40 year old nukes should close timely and less than 10 year old coal plants should run.
Decarbonization sounds nice. So when are we going to increase gas, diesel and jet fuel to reduce frivolous travel? It seems more a verbal marketing Club. Space tourism going on while we are suppose to decarbonize to save the planet?
Decarbonization sounds like “Spotted Owl” to me; for a desired economic effect rather than really about ‘carbon anxiety syndrome’.
- Precinct Captain - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 12:16 pm:
Maybe Senator Harmon shouldn’t have put a coal lobbyist in charge of negotiating for his caucus? Someone who sabotaged the bill at the goal line, against the wishes of the members he was supposedly fighting for.
- DuPage Dem - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 12:17 pm:
Pretty sure that the Governor was just fine with the successful former legislator who has successfully negotiated bills for them in the past handling negotiations for them going forward. Funny to me how the one black negotiator in this process (was there another that I missed?) is somehow the “difficult” party here…funny how that happens huh? But hey - I’m sure the former coal lobbyist came into this with a heart of gold!
To the post - interesting to see how the next month plays out. Not sure this gets done before veto session - I’m betting a lot of legislators are getting ready to take delayed vacations etc (that’s not a knock - I think everyone is taking off for the summer.). For me - I think the gov should stick to his guns. A bad bill is much worse than a delayed bill.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 12:18 pm:
===Labor can’t seem to manage all their members. And each local seems to have a different issue that comes up every time another one is solved. ===
That’s pretty succinct.
- Chicagonk - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 12:27 pm:
Let cooler heads prevail and come back in a week.
- Merica - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 12:43 pm:
In 2035 we’ll look back and say “thank goodness we save all those union jobs for white Trump voters in Williamsvillle and Chatham, people who resisted vaccines, believed QAnon, sent their kids to defacto segregated schools, and who retired to Arizona and northern Florida.” While the rest of us pay $100’s of millions to clean up coal ash ponds and decommission these things.
- Just Can't - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 12:58 pm:
The animosity between the Senate and the Governor’s office is coming through loud and clear in these comments.
- Hyrum Powell - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 1:06 pm:
DuPage Dem.
This issue has nothing to do with race, and everything to do with a certain former legislator being the most arrogant person in Springfield.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 1:08 pm:
===This issue has nothing to do with race, and everything to do with a certain former legislator being the most arrogant person in Springfield. ===
So, you’re saying he’s uppity?
lol
- Mad Hatter - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 1:12 pm:
Labor Unions will end up swinging the cat when this is all said and done. It’s the way it works in Illinois.
- Don't Have the Energy - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 1:21 pm:
=== (per Gov. Pritzker) People are bringing up issues that they had settled on months ago ===
You didn’t even introduce your energy bill until April 29 and your staff wasn’t in negotiations until after that. How would you know what was settled “months ago”?
=== (per DuPage Dem) Funny to me how the one black negotiator in this process (was there another that I missed?) ===
You may want to ask Sen. Belt, Rep. Davis, Rep. Evans and Rep. Greenwood how they filled out their census forms.
- nadia - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 1:46 pm:
If this doesn’t come together it looks like the only stakeholders who won’t lose are Prairie State and CWLP. There are several entities involved who have no faith (this is being nice as Rich asks us to be) in the Deputy Governor working on this.
- Candy Dogood - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 1:53 pm:
===Labor can’t seem to manage all their members. ===
Labor is not a perfect monolith. Solidarity is not a perfect fit. In many cases it can appear that way, like legislation that strengthens collective bargaining rights is something labor is usually pretty uniform on, but having many mutual interests is not the same as having uniform interests.
For example, United Steelworkers heavily favors legislation that makes restrictions on carbon pollution due to the more advance capabilities of United States and Canadian based steel production to produce lower carbon steel.
This can cause friction with the unions that represent workers within the fossil fuel industry.
The fact is that we must address climate change which is specifically against the micro interests of some areas of labor, but is in the macro interests of all labor. An IBEW union local, for example, is likely to represent current employees at a plant that is being threatened with a shut down. If we build a massive solar network that is widely dispersed it is very likely that the people responsible for the install and maintenance of those projects will also be union represented, but those are future hypothetical members.
A union represents the employees that exist now. Promises of retraining, promises of future union positions are not the same thing as existing retraining programs for existing jobs on existing projects. Not every stakeholder in labor has the same micro perspective and not every stakeholder in labor is actually representing employees who would might face layoffs and need retraining, so it is easier for leaders with the macro perspective to agree to something that is unacceptable on the micro perspective, even if the micro perspective is untenable in the long run, but a promise is never as good as the job that someone is working today.
This is a simple fact and at some point in time our legislators need to recognize that it is impossible to please everyone, even if the intent of the bill is to create opportunities for people negatively impacted by the bill to have positive outcomes. Climate change is something we must address and to do that jobs in sectors that are responsible for that pollution will need to be reduced and go away.
- Nope - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 2:14 pm:
It’s nonsense to blame the Deputy Governor- whom- get this folks- got an agreement with Exelon to keep the plants open- while keeping costs to consumers in check. Arrogant? No. Confident? Smart? Yes.
What should have been- mic drop- done deal - turned into a conflictfest for several of the stakeholders involved.
Enviros are good, Gov office good, Speaker Office good, Utilities good.
No one is ever going to get 100%- take the deal on the most comprehensive clean energy/jobs legislation in the United States and call it a day.
It’s not that hard
- Dan Johnson - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 2:15 pm:
That’s a really nice line
- Nobody Sent - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 2:17 pm:
I know this is crazy talk, but our “leaders” need to learn to tell labor they can’t have everything, specifically, they don’t get to keep all of the fossil fuel jobs and corner the market on all renewable energy jobs.
- The Dude Abides - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 2:28 pm:
A couple weeks ago the Governor said he wouldn’t sign a redistricting map bill that was unfair either. I suppose it’s possible that he cares more about decarbonization than he does fair maps.
- Southern Skeptic - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 2:47 pm:
This is not about the Deputy Governor. Everyone is bargaining in good faith. It’s about an incredibly complicated piece of legislation and a ton of competing interests. Sometimes it just takes longer to work through all these issues than people would like.
I also want to point out something else the Governor said at his press conference this morning. I don’t have a transcript but listened to it and he essentially said, “This deal is so close we can taste it.”
Sausage making is ugly sometimes but this deal is going to get done and soon. Period.
- Shield - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 3:01 pm:
- The Dude Abides - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 2:28 pm:
National redistricting experts say Illinois has the best minority representation in the country. Sounds like your idea of “fair maps” means white guys only.
- phocion - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 3:10 pm:
==National redistricting experts say Illinois has the best minority representation in the country.==
Cite?
- Surge voter - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 3:29 pm:
Nope
Your defense of Dep. Gov not convincing….maybe it was grammar issue.. Whom knows?
- Don't Have the Energy - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 4:04 pm:
@ Nope === It’s not that hard ===
You’re right, ***IF*** you wilfully neglect to consider the position of 1/2 of the General Assembly and the largest constituent group/contributor to the majority Democrat Party. Neither of them were “good”.
This is not Nebraska.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 4:10 pm:
===to the majority Democrat Party===
You do realize it’s an intraparty squabble. Saying “Democrat Party” is as silly as any take without grasping that squabble.
- Nick - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 4:39 pm:
“Here’s what’s happening: People are bringing up issues that they had settled on months ago, to try to bring them up now at the last minute hoping that everybody will say, well that’s okay we’ll just let that one go, so that we can get a bill. That’s not how it works.”
Bingo
- Cubs win - Wednesday, Jun 16, 21 @ 5:11 pm:
All this revisionist history happening here and in the press. At no point did the labor reps in the negotiation say they were OK with the CEJA decarbonization goals or dates. The exact opposite is true. At every opportunity they voiced their opposition to those goals. Legislators from both chambers voiced their opposition to those goals.
The rewriting of what happened is occurring by the governors office. There was no agreement by labor to any of that. Harmon and Welch cannot conjure votes for a policy if the votes are not there. The deputy governor (in the environmentalists) does not seem to understand this, in spite of his previous experience as a legislator.