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Pritzker unveils energy bill

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Illinois

* Hannah Meisel…

After months of declining to endorse any specific plan to both get Illinois on a path to 100% renewable energy and crack down on public utilities’ power in Springfield, Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday entered the already raucous fight with his own legislation that will compete with at least three other proposals that have already been introduced.

Pritzker’s plan incorporates some elements of the other already-proposed measures, including ending an energy rate formula lawmakers approved in 2011, championed by utility giants Commonwealth Edison and Ameren. The proposal would also phase out coal by 2030, and end natural gas use by 2045 by reducing caps on greenhouse gas emissions year over year, and implementing an $8 per ton carbon price on emissions from fossil fuel-fired electric plants.

Atop a fact sheet distributed to stakeholders Wednesday and obtained by NPR Illinois, Pritzker’s office said the governor “believes it is past time to combat climate change, hold utility companies accountable to the ratepayers they serve, and rapidly begin the transition to renewable energy.”

While “clean” energy legislation has been atop Pritzker’s wish list since entering office, the issue has taken on new urgency in the last year after ComEd signed off on a $200 million fine and admitted in a deferred prosecution agreement that the company engaged in a years-long bribery scheme attempting to curry favor with longtime former House Speaker Mike Madigan.

Go read the rest. Pritzker also wants to prohibit ComEd from donating to the Citizens Utility Board and subject CUB to FOIA.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Apr 28, 21 @ 3:34 pm

Comments

Hold onto your wallets. Despite statements that they were concerned about the “cost” this jacks up prices including a near doubling of the rate cap. And before the proponents claim there will be “savings” - ask your self - if there are truly savings, why the need for a rate cap? And that is just on the RPS standard.

Comment by 4 percent Wednesday, Apr 28, 21 @ 3:44 pm
CUB should definitely be subject to FOIA
Are they subject to open meetings act?

Comment by DuPage Saint Wednesday, Apr 28, 21 @ 3:52 pm
I notice that the exelon subsidies look like they’ll more closely match what Pritzker’s study/audit reported than what Labor is backing.

Will be an interesting battle of wills.

Comment by Nick Wednesday, Apr 28, 21 @ 4:02 pm
I’m as green as Kermit the Frog on most issues. But no thanks to much of this. Natural gas isn’t going any where by 2045 and I don’t care for a carbon tax either.

If the state wanted to lead - back a next gen nuke plant or two and send Illinois forward with totally carbon free energy.

Comment by Cool Papa Bell Wednesday, Apr 28, 21 @ 4:07 pm
== CUB should definitely be subject to FOIA
Are they subject to open meetings act? ==

CUB is a not-for-profit organized under the laws of the state, funded by utility ratepayers through collections made by utilities as well as by donations. It is not a government agency and not subject to FOIA or the OMA.

Comment by Notorious RBG Wednesday, Apr 28, 21 @ 4:12 pm
Wow. The Luddite parade began quickly.

Comment by Lt Guv Wednesday, Apr 28, 21 @ 4:15 pm
I’m with Cool Papa Bell on one thing: next-gen nuclear would seem a smart way to establish a sufficient carbon-free baseload for IL. But I disagree about gas & coal… in the long term, you can’t beat free fuel. Wind and solar may have many up-front costs (though so do fossil fuel plants), but the operational cost advantage should make up for it in the long run. And with the speed of new battery development/green hydrogen conversion/etc., those “free” generation technologes are looking more feasible all the time. Certainly possible by 2045, assuming someone draws the line in the sand now.

Comment by Dysfunction Junction Wednesday, Apr 28, 21 @ 4:17 pm
Ameren, exelon are on top of the comment game

Comment by illinoyed Wednesday, Apr 28, 21 @ 4:29 pm
Does end natural gas use by 2045 refer to houses or just to electric generation?

Comment by DuPage Wednesday, Apr 28, 21 @ 4:44 pm
Would love to see JB’s fact sheet that went to stakeholders.

Comment by jimbo26 Wednesday, Apr 28, 21 @ 4:47 pm
== I’m as green as Kermit the Frog on most issues. But no thanks to much of this. Natural gas isn’t going any where by 2045 and I don’t care for a carbon tax either. ==

If you’re as “green as Kermit the frog,” you’d know scientists say we need to cut carbon emissions in half by 2030 and get them to zero by 2050 to avoid catastrophic climate change.

If you think we should still be burning fossil fuels in 2050, you don’t want to stop climate change. You decide which one you care about.

Comment by liveable planet enjoyer Wednesday, Apr 28, 21 @ 4:48 pm
Cool Papa Bell makes an interesting point.

Illinois chose an energy path decades ago: toward what became the nation’s largest fleet of nuclear plants. That decision has paid huge dividends, such as letting a coal-producing state move away from coal.

The question now is how Illinois can renew/expand that zero-carbon fleet. The new, off-the-shelf plant designs appear to be safe and ought to be less expensive to build and run than all the one-off plants from the first generation.

Comment by Perplexed Wednesday, Apr 28, 21 @ 4:50 pm
“Atop a fact sheet distributed to stakeholders Wednesday…”

We are ALL stakeholders in this… let the entire population of the state see this.

Comment by Anon221 Wednesday, Apr 28, 21 @ 5:09 pm
===scientists say we need to cut carbon emissions in half by 2030 and get them to zero by 2050 to avoid catastrophic climate change.===

I looked at all the EIA 2021 report charts, and none of them had oil, natural gas or coal at 0% by 2050. Good luck, world.
https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Wednesday, Apr 28, 21 @ 5:21 pm
Good to finally see Pritzker’s energy bill. It should help focus the discussion. But can the Governor convince the stakeholder groups to step back, reexamine their priorities and work to find a compromise. I hope so. The window to blunt climate change is closing quickly.

Comment by going nuclear Wednesday, Apr 28, 21 @ 5:48 pm
Sun Times is reporting that the bill, Consumers and Climate First Act, will be unveiled tomorrow-

https://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/2021/4/28/22408700/pritzker-energy-bill-comed-commonwealth-edision-clean-energy-fixed-rates-federal-investigation

Comment by Anon221 Wednesday, Apr 28, 21 @ 8:25 pm
thisjustinagain,

CUB was created by statute, 220 ILCS 110. CUS has a link to the statute on its webpage.

Comment by Derek Smalls Wednesday, Apr 28, 21 @ 9:21 pm
thisjustinagain isn’t wrong, nor is Derek Smalls. It’s created by statute, but it is not a government agency - it is a not-for-profit corporation by definition under the CUB Act. The IHSA case would tend to show that CUB is not subject to FOIA, and it is not a public body under the definitions of the OMA.

Comment by Notorious RBG Wednesday, Apr 28, 21 @ 10:49 pm
===Still waiting for Christian Mitchell===

He’s busy updating his own wikipedia page.

===Good luck, world.===

The trick to getting to those bench marks is passing a law to require utilities to pay feed in tariffs to support the cost of home owners and business outfitting their own properties with solar. We don’t have to wait for a private company to decide to make a transition if we require them to support individual actors making the decision.

Comment by Candy Dogood Wednesday, Apr 28, 21 @ 11:56 pm