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Nine months after the expiration of the state’s
10-year freeze on electric rates, and nearly a year of caterwauling by
Ameren and Commonwealth Edison customers and their elected representatives,
Illinois finally has in place a $1 billion relief deal. Rebate checks and bill credits have captured most
headlines across the state, for good reason. In Ameren territory, mainly downstate Illinois,
ratepayers whose utility bills doubled or tripled when the freeze expired
will receive at least $100 in relief. Chicagoans, who are served by ComEd,
should get back a minimum of $80.
But conservation advocates, too, laud the
long-awaited plan, signed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich last week in DuQuoin, as
a victory for the environment — for the most part, that is.
Quietly introduced by state Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak
Park, as part of the rate legislation was the Affordable, Clean Energy
Standards — the state’s first renewable-energy standard, which
is among the most progressive in the nation. Under the renewable portfolio standard contained
within the bill, renewables will generate 25 percent of the state’s
power by the year 2025. Approximately $5 million is also set aside for
energy-efficiency, environmental, education, and assistance programs,
including offering free energy-efficient light bulbs to low-income
customers.
Among renewable resources identified in the
legislation are wind and solar power, hydropower that doesn’t require
the construction of new dams, and biodiesel. The bill also defines landfill
gas as a renewable resource, which comes as a surprise to some
environmentalists.
For a number of years debate has been waged within
environmental circles over whether landfill gas — a mixture of
primarily methane and carbon dioxide — is in fact renewable, because
it relies on the existence of eco-unfriendly landfills. Henry Henderson, director of Midwest programs for the
Natural Resources Defense Council, says that the definition of landfill gas
as a renewable shows just how convoluted the political process can become.
“Landfills are with us and so we need to
formulate a plan to effectively manage landfill gas,” Henderson says,
“but the problem comes in when we start green-washing it by calling
it renewable energy, because it isn’t.”
In 2003, NRDC analysts published a report, titled Is Landfill Gas Green Energy?,
that concluded that “the simple fact that landfilling results in the
most greenhouse gas production of any of the waste-management options is
sufficient proof alone that landfilling is not a sustainable practice and
thus that landfill gas is not renewable.”
Henderson says although combusting landfill gas is
more sensible than simply doing nothing and allowing toxins to seep into
the atmosphere, efforts should be concentrated on genuine renewables,
better systems for waste management and reduction, and the avoidance of
landfills altogether. Rebecca Stanfield, state director of the
Chicago-based Environment Illinois, says that the landfill provision
“isn’t a big problem” for her, in light of the fact that
ACES also requires wind power, of which her group is an ardent proponent,
to account for 75 percent of the state’s renewables. While praising Harmon for sponsoring the legislation
and calling the deal “a major step toward a smarter, cleaner energy
future,” Stanfield is disappointed about one aspect of ACES that
provides for the construction of a new coal-fired power plant. The facility will not be required to incorporate
technology to capture and store emissions of carbon dioxide, one of the
toxins that contributes to global warming. “If there were one thing I’d do to change
the bill, it would be that,” Stanfield says.
Contact R.L. Nave at rnave@illinoistimes.com
This article appears in Aug 30 – Sep 5, 2007.
