Illinois’ power struggle: Environmental advocates split on legislation to lift nuclear ban – Daily Herald*
Legislation that would lift a 30-year moratorium on building new nuclear sites is awaiting action in the Illinois House. Illinois gets a much larger percentage of its electricity from nuclear power than other states do, and therefore it relies on it more to hit its climate goals, namely reaching 100% clean energy by 2050.
Two laws that exist now in California are being considered in Illinois: The NET-Z coalition is pushing legislation to mandate an increasing percentage of heavy- and medium-duty trucks sold in Illinois to be electric or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and a second bill reclassifies independent contractors as employees, essentially eliminating the independent contractor and the owner/operator model from the trucking industry.
Steve Jones, who has lived 45 years at the same address, is among about a dozen people organizing opposition to the River Maple Solar II project. Thirty-five acres of solar panels up to 15-feet tall would be erected in farmland 1,200 feet from Jones’ backyard. But it may not matter what Jones and his neighbors think. A controversial bill signed into law in January dramatically reduces the power of county governments to regulate solar and wind farms if the projects meet standards set in the new
“The reason our neighborhoods survive is because of our small businesses,” said Nicole Smith, who said her dog, Landon, has been at Furry Paws since he was a puppy.
