Nuclear Energy Information Service
Illinois' Nuclear Power Watchdog for 25 Years

Letter to Sen. Peter Fitzgerald In Support of S.1369, The "Clean Energy Act of 1999"

May 22, 2000

The Honorable Peter Fitzgerald
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Fitzgerald:

The electric industry is the largest industrial source of the pollutants that cause smog, soot, acid rain, mercury contamination, and global warming. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee action is scheduled for this week on proposed electricity legislation which will have enormous implications for the environment. The undersigned Illinois organizations urge you to cosponsor and support the Clean Energy Act of 1999 (S. 1369), introduced by Senator James Jeffords of Vermont, or any amendment offered in Committee with the same provisions.

Any electric industry legislation—whether a comprehensive restructuring bill or a "streamlined" reliability bill—will have major environmental consequences. Proposals that depend largely on increasing transmission capacity to enhance reliability, for example, could also potentially increase sales and emissions from the dirtiest power plants. The Clean Energy Act provisions would ensure that reliability is enhanced and electricity costs are reduced in ways that also protect the environment. We urge you to oppose any electricity bill that fails to deal with the environmental consequences of restructuring the nation's most polluting industry, or that pits reliability or cost-cutting against clean and healthy air.

Over 650,000 citizens of Illinois suffer from asthma already, including over 200,000 children. Nationwide, summer smog sends an estimated 53,000 persons to hospital admissions and 159,000 to emergency rooms. Clean energy technologies can not only reduce these impacts, but increase reliability, fuel diversity, employment, and national security, while reducing electricity costs as well. The Clean Energy Act will benefit Illinois by:

Establishing a national Public Benefits Trust Fund to provide matching grants to state and utility programs for energy efficiency and research and development of new clean energy technologies, and to ensure universal access and low-income customer services. Increasing energy efficiency improves electric system reliability: decreasing electricity demand increases generation and transmission reserve margins—while also reducing customer bills and cutting emissions. To cut costs, the industry has cut these programs by almost half since 1993. A small, universal charge on electricity transmission will help fully fund these programs again.
Fostering the development of clean renewable energy sources that will create new local jobs and increase energy reliability and national security by diversifying our fuel mix. Illinois is already benefiting from renewable energy jobs created by companies such as Spire Chicago Solar (a solar panels manufacturer in Chicago) and NEG Micon USA (an industrial-sized wind-turbine manufacturer located in Champaign). The Jeffords Bill includes a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), a market-based mechanism to ensure that a gradually increasing percentage of electricity comes from wind, solar, geothermal and clean biomass sources. It will ensure continued cost reductions in renewable energy technologies and enable them to compete.
Establishing emissions caps to reduce pollutants linked to smog, acid rain, respiratory illness, and global warming. The Jeffords Bill requires older coal plants to meet the same standards as all other plants, eliminating a current exemption that gives these plants an unfair competitive advantage in a deregulated market. Fair environmental rules mean more new clean competitors.
Allowing customers to lower their electricity bills using grid-connected renewable energy systems. The net metering provision in the Jeffords Bill enables small-scale renewable energy producers to connect to the power grid and would establish uniform national safety and power quality standards. ComEd is already voluntarily offering net metering in its service territory, and there is no reason why this practical approach shouldn't be applied nationwide.
Giving consumers the information they need to make informed choices by requiring utilities to disclose the fuel sources used to generate their power and how much pollution they emit. We believe Illinois currently has the best environmental disclosure law in the nation and that our approach should be emulated nationwide.

National studies show that these provisions are compatible with reducing electricity costs. Thank you for taking the time to carefully consider supporting clean energy as the Energy and Natural Resources Committee takes up this landmark energy legislation. These are critical issues for the state of Illinois and the nation. We look forward to your response, and would welcome the opportunity to discuss these views with you and your staff.

Sincerely,

Howard Learner, Director Environmental Law & Policy Center of the Midwest Chicago	Lynda Delaforgue, Director Citizen Action Illinois Chicago
Diane E. Brown, Director Illinois Public Interest Research Group Chicago	Brian Urbaszewski Dir. of Environmental Health Programs American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago Chicago
Lynne Padovan, Executive Director llinois Environmental Council Springfield	David A. Kraft, Director Nuclear Energy Information Service Evanston
Carol Stark, Director Citizens Against Ruining Environment Lockport	Brook McDonald, Executive Director Conservation Foundation Naperville
Susan Zingle, Executive Director Lake County Conservation Alliance Wadsworth	Maureen Headington, Coordinator Stand Up, Save Lives Campaign Burr Ridge

CLICK HERE to read the press release NEIS sent out on
S. 1369,"The Clean Energy Act of 1999"

Back to the top of this Page