Republican State Senator Jason Plummer didn’t hold back when criticizing the controversial ‘Energy Omnibus Bill’ that passed the Illinois Senate Thursday night and is now on the governor’s desk.
Plummer says the bill’s clean energy mandates will drive up costs and weaken the reliability of the state’s energy grid.
“We have an affordability crisis in this state, and policy like this just makes it worse,” Plummer said. “You wreck something that’s working and you say, ‘oh, we’re going to fix it, give us eight billion dollars more.’ The families of the 55th State Senate district don’t have more money to support your failed policies, and they won’t have more money when you come back in two years to fix it again. They won’t have more money when you come back in four years to fix it. People can’t afford to live in this state, businesses can’t afford to compete in this state, and you guys are destroying people’s lives.
The bill focuses on funding more battery storage for solar and wind energy. Proponents of the bill say that though rates will increase in the short term, it will increase grid reliability and affordability in the long term. The bill also gives more power to a state energy agency, puts new requirements on energy efficiency programs and ends the state-wide ban on building large nuclear plants.
Plummer says the bill also allows disruptive projects to be built just 150 feet from someone’s property, and local officials have been stripped of their authority to stop it. He calls that “blatant overreach by the state.”
