Clean energy bill needs your support

Illinois legislators are being presented with a clean energy bill that will have historic impact, and will create 32,000 jobs every year - good-paying jobs that will move Illinois forward into a prosperous, healthy future, while at the same time working to slow down and reverse the effects of climate change. Now that should be something we can all agree on.

The Illinois Clean Jobs Bill is supported by more than 100 Illinois businesses, dozens of environmental and public health organizations, including the Sierra Club, and even the Consumer Utility Board, Illinois consumer advocacy group. This bill would do three things: reduce energy demand by 20 percent by 2025, jumpstart our renewable energy economy by setting a target of 35 percent clean energy by 2030, and create a market based system to regulate dangerous carbon pollution.

The benefits of the Clean Jobs Bill include expanding our renewable energy in Illinois, making us once again a leader in renewable energy, creating a cap and invest plan to reduce pollution, and reducing demand through efficiency. But possibly the most important part of this bill for Illinois families still troubled by the effects of the longest recession is the 32,000 jobs that this bill will create every year for installation and maintenance.

Call your legislators and ask them to support the Illinois Clean Jobs Bill. Clean energy and clean jobs - what a great future for our state.

Mavis A. Bates

Aurora