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Beginning next week in Decatur, Illinois
environmentalists will try to rally support for a tough set of regulations
on greenhouse-gas emissions with a series of town-hall meetings to take
place throughout the year and into next year’s legislative session.
Known as the Global Warming Response Act and
introduced in both chambers of the Legislature, the bill aims to clear the
air in Illinois by rolling back pollution to 1990 levels by 2020. The
proposal encourages the use of alternative fuel sources, mandates the use
of energy-efficient furnaces and building codes in new residential
construction, and establishes standards for low-carbon motor fuels and
clean cars.
Jonathan Goldman, executive director of the Illinois
Environmental Council, which is sponsoring the community meetings, says
that news reports tend to focus on the benefits of replacing traditional
light bulbs with compact fluorescents and other cost-cutting measures. This is a good starting point, he says, but more
needs to be done: “The best impact people can have independently
is to educate themselves about the issues and reach out to legislators and
say, ‘This is a top priority of mine and I’d like it to be a
top priority of yours.’ ”
He adds that imposing more rigorous state
vehicle-emissions standards is part of an effort by 14 Midwestern states
that would discourage auto manufacturers from making one version of their
cars for so-called clean-fuel states and another model for non-clean-fuel
states, creating “a de facto national policy.”
Provisions of the global-warming bill also include
decreases in greenhouse-gas emissions over the next 12 years and
implementation of a cap and trade program. Such programs, put in place to
combat acid rain during the 1980s, involve the capping pollutants and
auctioning of greenhouse-gas credits to polluters such coal-burning power
plants. That’s good news for Springfield’s public
utility, City Water, Light & Power, as well as city taxpayers, says
Illinois Sierra Club regional representative Becki Clayborn. In 2006 the
Sierra Club struck an agreement with the city to cut emissions at its new
200-megawatt coal-fired plant, now under construction. “Springfield will be in a good position because
they are already reducing their greenhouse gas emissions due to our
agreement, which means that they will be buying less than other plants of
that size,” Clayborn says. The first town-hall meeting — “Climate
Change: How Does It Affect Decatur?” — takes place at the
Decatur Public Library, 130 N. Franklin, at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 24. Forums
will also be held in Champaign, Peoria, and Belleville.
Goldman says that many people may not understand how
their lives will be affected by global warming, which, he says, is often
presented in abstract terms. “You always see articles about the ice caps
melting and the polar bears dying,” he says, “but do people
understand what it’s going to mean for the future of agriculture in
Illinois 40 years from now?”
Contact R.L. Nave at rnave@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Jun 12-18, 2008.
