Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled its Clean Power Plan to reduce carbon pollution from power plants by 2030.
Under the plan, Illinois is required to cut emissions 31 percent. That won’t be easy, but we have a key tool to reach that goal: the Illinois Clean Jobs Bill.
The Illinois Clean Jobs Bill (House Bill 2607/Senate Bill 1485) is a plan to cut power bills and create jobs in the state. The measure would 1) improve efficiency standards, allowing Illinois to cut costly electricity waste by 20 percent by 2025; and 2) strengthen the power grid by requiring 35 percent of energy to come from cleaner, less costly renewable sources, like solar and wind, by 2030. (The current standard is 25 percent.) The bill would add 32,000 energy-related jobs a year once fully implemented.
Furthermore, the Clean Jobs Bill is the only legislation in Springfield that could help Illinois meet its federal goals, while saving consumers $1.6 billion on their electric bills.
But big power generators want to kill the bill, because its efficiency provisions would eat into their bottom lines. Don’t let them win.
Together, we can achieve a clean, affordable future. Please, tell your legislators: I support the Illinois Clean Jobs bill.
