Illinois’ efforts to transition to a clean energy economy should also include support for communities and workers that are most impacted by the closure or reduced operation of fossil fuel power plants, nuclear power plants, or coal mines. To date, the transition away from coal in Illinois has been unplanned and disordered including, no advance notice of closure, no community or statewide planning, closure of cleaner burning plants, and no financial support for communities dealing with lost tax revenue and other impacts.
Recent state and federal laws have sought to capitalize on this opportunity and to address some of the challenges to ensure that investments are reaching people and communities that need them the most. The Illinois’ Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) have all dramatically transformed the energy landscape for rural communities; offering game-changing access to clean energy tax credits and a suite of programs to deliver cost-effective clean energy projects.
Climate and Equitable Jobs Act
CEJA’s just transition policies are intended to support communities and residents with advance planning, resources, and investment for worker support and training, site clean-up and reuse, local tax revenue replacement, and for stimulating new private investment, including renewable energy.
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law – also known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was passed in November os 2021 just after CEJA and it focuses on improving and modernizing various aspects of America’s infrastructure from water to broadband to roads and more.
It also fights climate change and promotes clean energy, including more than $62 billion for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for clean energy demonstration projects, grid modernization, and investing in American manufacturing and workers.
It invests in electric vehicles including new funding through USEPA for electric school buses.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure law delivers the largest investment in tackling legacy pollution in American history by cleaning up Superfund and brownfield sites, reclaiming abandoned mines, and capping orphaned oil and gas wells.
Finally it provides funding for communities to make improvements to infrastructure that will be critical to adapt to and be resilient in the face of a changing climate.
Inflation Reduction Act
The Inflation Reduction Act passed in August of 2022 and it includes $369 billion in funding to tackle climate change. The dominant strategy the IRA employs to lead the clean energy transition is tax credits—paying U.S. businesses, households, and even sub-national governments when they make investments that will lead to reduced GHG emissions.
Along with tax credits, the legislation allocates billions toward transportation electrification, including $3 billion for the U.S. Postal Service to electrify its fleet of more than 200,000 vehicles, $3 billion to reduce pollution at ports and $1 billion toward clean school and transit buses, garbage trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles.
The law creates new rebates to help us all improve the energy efficiency of our homes and reduce the use of fossil fuels in our homes. The rebate programs will be managed by our state energy office at IEPA. We expect these rebate programs to roll out early next year.
The law also creates countless grant and loan programs to expand clean energy, build a clean energy workforce, finance projects, and bring benefits to underserved communities.
Resources
Rural Energy for America Program (REAP)
Energy Community Reinvestment Programs and Resources
Energy Transition Community Grants (printable Fact Sheet)
