By Mark Glennon, Wirepoints –
Whodathunkit? Taxpayer assistance to relieve the pain of government failure.
On Wednesday, Gov. JB Pritzker proudly announced a whopping $300 million of cash assistance for Illinoisans struggling with energy bills. “Every Illinoisan deserves access to reliable energy—regardless of their economic status,” Pritzker said in his press release.
That’s just the latest result of Illinois’ foundering energy policy but, first, note that the new program is for natural gas, propane and electricity (only about 10% of which is from renewable projects). Those are the very energy sources that Illinois is in the process of deliberately trying to destroy.
Illinois plans to have 50% of its electricity production from renewable sources by 2040 and 100% from clean energy sources by 2050. That’s under CEJA (Illinois’ Climate and Equitable Jobs Act), which became law last year and was correctly called by one of its sponsors “the most aggressive, most progressive climate bill in the nation.”
It’s all part of what two leading supporters openly call an “industrial policy.” That was in a Chicago Tribune op-ed last week by Kady McFadden, a former deputy director at Sierra Club “whose work was instrumental in passing” CEJA, and Ameya Pawar, a former Chicago alderman who was also active in forming Illinois’ energy policy.
More HERE