Springfield’s City Water, Light and Power (CWLP) is the largest municipally owned utility in Illinois. Local citizen activists with Sustainable Springfield, the Sierra Club and the Faith Coalition for the Common Good are seeking an approach that would, among other measures, include citizen involvement in decision-making for CWLP. This could take the form of a sustainability commission to advise the city council on energy matters, a method which has been adopted successfully in many communities, including the southern Illinois city of Carbondale.
Area activist groups have long accused CWLP of mismanagement and lack of transparency. A 2018 report commissioned by the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce included allegations that CWLP was significantly overcharging customers for basic utility services. In 2017, Tim Landis of the State Journal-Register reported on a study by the Sierra Club claiming that “residential customers paid an extra $215 (annually) and commercial customers another $2,300 in 2016,” which was blamed on the continued reliance on the Dallman 1 and 2 plants “as opposed to buying power on competitive, wholesale markets.” CWLP disputed these findings at the time.
The following year, Crystal Thomas of the SJ-R reported on another study commissioned by the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce which agreed with the Sierra Club study, concluding that CWLP was operating “uneconomically.” It went on to say that “the Chamber’s report showed an even greater disparity between CWLP’s cost to generate power and market wholesale rates.” In a follow-up, CWLP’s own independent contractor agreed with both the Chamber and Sierra Club studies, with the use of the Dallman plants “costing the ratepayers millions of dollars every year.
“Instead of being considered “losses,” the higher prices were absorbed by CWLP customers through higher rates,” according to Mark Pruitt of The Power Bureau, which conducted the study in 2018 for the Chamber. “If (CWLP) was in the private sector, (it) would be out of business,” Pruitt said. “They are pushing their losses to their customers.”
Despite the evidence contained in these now nearly decade-old reports, sustainability activists in Springfield are still fighting an uphill battle against what they see as a largely unresponsive and intransigent CWLP working together with city government. There are other problems as well. In August of 2021, CWLP released what the Sierra Club described as a “massive dust cloud of coal ash” and the State of Illinois filed a still ongoing lawsuit accusing CWLP of multiple violations of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act, Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB) regulations and the utility’s own Clean Air Act operating permit.
Meanwhile, Mayor Misty Buscher and CWLP officials have expressed frustration regarding recent interactions with members of the Sierra Club, Faith Coalition, Sustainable Springfield and other groups.
Amber Sabin, CWLP director of customer and media relations, said in a recent interview that over the last several months CWLP and the mayor’s office have been trying to actively engage with Sustainable Springfield, participating in recent forums organized by Sustainable Springfield, Sierra Club and other groups, but things have since gone downhill. “The next meeting we were at, we were allowed to attend but we weren’t allowed to present or have a table,” she said. “The last meeting they had, we were asked to not even attend. So, we’re trying to be a part of the conversation and the process. We have a good relationship with the statewide Sierra Club, but for the local club, we don’t hear calls from them or anything very direct or solution based.”
Anne Logue, who is on the board of Sustainable Springfield, believes that Springfield City Council members and other political actors can’t be trusted to oversee all the complex concerns associated with this massive energy utility. Instead, she wants citizens to be more involved. “[The people on the City Council] don’t know what they’re doing. And I told the mayor, they have no training. They don’t have a clue about the history and all the mistakes that have been made. And then there’s the transparency issue. One of the reasons our water rate increase is so high all at once,” she continued, “is because it was in the hands of politicians. So there’s no trust there.”
Utilities across the country, including CWLP, have implemented what is called an Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), which, among many other factors, allows for a group of citizens with specialized knowledge and safety concerns to weigh in on the way their utilities are run. Activists claim that public participation and outside oversight is essential to both sustainability and avoiding the kinds of mismanagement which CWLP has been accused of in the past.
“New technologies, aging infrastructure, strengthened environmental regulation – we hope – and increased energy efficiency adoption are all contributing to a rapidly changing energy landscape,” said Brandon Derman, who is a member of the Faith Coalition as well as associate professor in the Environmental Studies program at UIS, at a meeting held this past June 8 at Westminster Presbyterian Church. During the meeting he explained that, to be effective, IRPs should be conducted at regular intervals of at least every five years, with 20 years as the overall length of the plan. “This is what we’re pushing for, and it’s time for CWLP to do another IRP.” The last one was initiated in 2018, soon after the critical Chamber of Commerce report. “Producing an efficient, cost-effective transition to clean energy must involve long-term energy resource planning,” continued Derman. “There are 35 states at present which all require utilities to file Integrated Resource Plans with their state public utility commissions. That’s a lot. We should be up there too.”
“Our hope would be that we would have a board with three people who are professionally qualified to participate in assessment,” said Logue. “Also, we would need three people who are experienced in environmental activism. And then members of the city’s marginalized communities need to be included. That way, we’d have representation of citizens who are directly impacted, along with expertise. It is a public utility. So we should have a voice in the process. We can’t put the future of our energy pathway into the hands of people that are politically guided.”
At the same meeting in June, Derman pointed to Carbondale as a “good example of what a city in downstate Illinois can do to make a transition to, not only clean energy, but towards sustainability.” Carbondale has created a Sustainability Commission comprising nine members, including members from their city council, Carbondale Community High School and SIU. “This is true public input with a commission of residents working with experts,” said Derman. “Springfield could learn from this by taking advantage of the knowledge of its residents and retaining experts on renewable energy and sustainability.” In 2019, the commission began working on a sustainability plan through listening sessions, consultations with community stakeholders, and revision by subject matter experts.
“We want to be ready for new requirements that are on their way and we also want to do what’s right in terms of the environment,” said Logue. “CWLP has a record of resisting clean energy and we want to keep them from investing in fossil fuels that will probably be obsolete in five or 10 years, and we’ll end up with stranded assets.”
For her part, Mayor Buscher has pledged to support battery energy storage for Springfield. According to a study by the nonprofit Clean Grid Alliance of St. Paul, Minnesota, called “Cost and Benefit Analysis of Energy Storage Resource Deployment in Illinois” (link: https://shorturl.at/d4YjL), this would be a step that the city and activists could agree on. Per the report: “Battery energy storage will reduce the expected probability of power outages, saving a projected $5.8 billion for Illinois consumers between 2030-2049.”
Scott Faingold is a journalist, educator and musician. He has been an instructor at
University of Illinois Springfield, founding editor of Activator magazine, a staff reporter for IllinoisTimes and co-host of Old School Bleep, a music-centered podcast. He can be reached atscottfaingold@gmail.com.
This article appears in Citizens want a voice in CWLP.
Environmental activists are some of the worst people on Earth. They don’t know squat, but they pretend like they are saving the world. An easy way to be a “good” person without the hard work of actually doing anything good.
I understand the mayor loves pandering to democrats any chance she can get, but she should simply ignore Sustainable Springfield, the Sierra Club and the Faith Coalition. They hate their country and they hate their fellow man. The absolute last thing she should do is create some kind of commission for these people to sit on. Being allowed to speak at the city council is more than they deserve.
If these woke environmental activists actually get their way, America will be beyond screwed. Why don’t the activists look at what’s happened in Europe? Middle class Europeans burning wood for warmth during the coldest winter days because there is not enough electricity. Europeans use much less energy than Americans and they still don’t have enough. Grandmas freezing to death.
Europe is already 10+ years down the path that the woke environmental losers want us to walk down. And now Germany is turning their coal plants back on in winter. WHY AREN’T THEY BUILDING MORE WINDMILLS AND SOLAR PANELS INSTEAD? That’s a mystery that an environmentalist could never ever solve.
By the way, I love how half the article is about how CWLP isn’t making enough profit, as if these communists want any company to make a profit. They are such lying, deceiving losers who hate America and hate prosperity.
What these so-called activists don’t understand or want to believe is that solar-like windmills are not suitable for base load power. In Europe, Germany has found this out the hard way.
It threw Germany into recession, and pollution went up. Not only do solar and windmills have a dirty pollution footprint due in large part to the fact that solar glass can’t be recycled and produces a very toxic sludge when manufactured, nor can the blades on windmills that are piling up now in land fills.
Then there is the gearbox oil that has to be changed. Neither can be counted as base load power. These so-called activists claim batteries will solve all of this. Have you ever seen a zinc or lithium mine that is used to make battery’s?
The mining pollution is far worse than coal mines and takes a lot of energy just to get the metal itself from the soil.
A coal plant pollutes less when start to finish; is taken into consideration, and 100% of the coal plant’s byproduct is recyclable.
Just this past week, Microsoft and Google announced plans to reopen nuclear power plants for use in data centers because solar batteries and windmills are not reliable for base load and are much more expensive to operate and cleanup afteras the liberals love to say, FACTS!!!!
@BurgerAddict @PaulBarker1
It’s disappointing to see such emotionally charged misinformation. Environmental activists are advocating for a sustainable future that benefits everyone. Europe’s energy challenges are complex and influenced by geopolitical issues, not simply renewable energy policies. In fact, many European countries are investing heavily in wind and solar power to enhance energy security and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Dismissing these efforts with divisive rhetoric doesn’t contribute to meaningful solutions. Let’s focus on constructive dialogue and factual information to address the real challenges we all face.
Hi PhilGray,
– “It’s disappointing to see such emotionally charged misinformation.”
Hahahahaha. When a democrat says “misinformation” what they really mean is “facts I don’t like”. Try using your mind for once instead of just repeating woke slogans.
– “Environmental activists are advocating for a sustainable future that benefits everyone.”
No. Environmental activists are interested in self glorification and a quick route to moral virtue without actually having to do anything moral. Behaving morally is difficult; screaming at politicians, blocking traffic, and throwing cans of soup on priceless paintings is easy.
Why do you think our local activists got so angry when the city council stopped showing their faces on camera? If they had an important message to deliver, then the message would be all that matters. But seeing their own faces on television is what matters to them.
– “Europe’s energy challenges are complex and influenced by geopolitical issues, not simply renewable energy policies. In fact, many European countries are investing heavily in wind and solar power to enhance energy security and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.”
It’s actually not complex at all. The reason you are saying it’s complex is because you can’t solve the problem with the woke solutions which are available to you. The solution to energy shortages is very simple – generate more energy. The way that humans generate 70% of our electricity right now is by burning fossil fuels.
Europe does not generate enough electricity thanks to the woke climate activists such as yourself. The reason they don’t generate enough electricity is because they closed their coal power plants. They closed their coal power plants due to the squealing of climate change activists who are pretending that the world is going to end because we’re burning fossil fuels.
Europe is currently gladly walking right down the path to hell that you have laid out for us. You could open your eyes and see the car wreck we are speeding towards, but instead, the climate activists just want to step on the gas. Just say “it’s complicated” and now you’re free from the result of YOUR ACTIONS.
Another winter is upon us and there will be more reports of European grannies burning wood for warmth so they don’t FREEZE TO DEATH, thanks to the activists like you. Meanwhile, the woke climate activists will be blocking traffic and throwing soup on the most valuable item they can find.
By the way, China and India are building NEW coal plants at this very moment. Apparently, they actually care whether or not their poor grannies freeze to death during the winter. Why don’t you care about freezing grannies more than China does?
– “Dismissing these efforts with divisive rhetoric doesn’t contribute to meaningful solutions. Let’s focus on constructive dialogue and factual information to address the real challenges we all face.”
So what you’re saying is, “stop making fun of activists for ruining everything, and come up with a solution to the problem we’ve caused”.
How about instead of that, the woke activists could shut the hell up and get a life. Then, we can all have electricity and a comfortable modern life. What the activists would prefer is the privation and desperation of huddling in front of a fire for warmth.
“BurgerAddict 2” is a second account so…. shady wtf else can I say
This clown is out here calling me a “democrat” so they obv are just interested in slinging mud. I’m not reading this drivel. If I wanted disinformation I’d turn on TV news.