Prairie State Wire

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker wants to move swiftly to develop and pass clean energy legislation with willing partners in an open and transparent process, according to a tweet on Twitter about the Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA) by the Environmental, Business & Labor Coalition.

But not everyone is as eager about moving the CEJA forward. In response to the Environmental, Business & Labor Coalition, Mark Glennon tweeted '‘AOC's Green New Deal for Illinois is insane.'’

AOC is a popular way to reference U.S. Rep. Alexandra Ocasio Cortez (D-N.Y.), co-author with Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) of the Green New Deal, which was introduced nationally in February 2019.

Wirepoints Founder and Executive Editor Mark Glennon

“[CEJA] is a version of Alexandra Ocasio Cortez’s Green New Deal,” said Glennon, founder and executive editor of Wirepoints, a research, commentary and news organization. “It would impose on Illinois a 600-page monstrosity of government and micromanagement of a large part of society, basically anything that touches energy or produces energy.”

Glennon is concerned now that CEJA has been introduced and is pending before both the Illinois House and Senate. 

“Many people truly believe in the necessity of addressing global warming,” he said. “Secondly, this legislation is a subterfuge for imposing a long list of social justice and ‘equity’ goals. That's what is loaded into the bill and what makes it so long. Virtually every page in there has something about social justice goals and set-asides for particular groups, such as protections for public union workers. It’s really an attempt to use the energy sector as a means of regulating in great detail a vast part of the economy.”

Highlights from the 365-page plan, according to the Illinois Opportunity Project, include 100% renewable statewide; replacing gas ranges and furnaces, which currently heat 77% of homes throughout Illinois; install 40 million solar panels and 2,500 wind turbines; replace most gas and diesel vehicles with electric cars; and supply funding for transportation and child care of those working clean energy jobs and apprenticeships as well as stipends.

Glennon called the plan "silly" and hopes Republicans will vote against it but he isn’t confident.

“Most of the GOP oppose it, but not all,” he told the Prairie State Wire. “Many people are fearful of crossing the green energy crowd and angering the renewable energies industry because of the power of the renewable energy industry, their campaign contributions and influence over the Legislature. It's not a lobby that you want to cross.”

Sponsors of the Illinois bill include state Reps. Mark Walker (D-Arlington Heights), Sam Yingling (D- Round Lake), Karina Villa (D-West Chicago), Deb Conroy (D-Villa Park), and Bob Morgan (D-Deerfield) 

“There's no organized group acting on behalf of energy consumers aside from business consumers,” Glennon said. “We simply don't have anybody at the table that's really looking at trying to keep lower energy rates in effect. That used to be the role of the Citizens Utility Board, which acted on behalf of consumers until it was entirely captured by the renewable energy industry, which is behind this bill. 

"The renewable energy industry has become a modern-day version of the military-industrial complex. It's a huge multitrillion-dollar industry spanning the world with tentacles in academia, government and everywhere else. They're running amuck in Springfield.”