McLean County Times

Veteran state Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris) is embracing Senate Bill 18 as the Illinois energy industry-saving compromise she felt it needed to be.

“While I don’t agree with every aspect of this legislation, what I do support is the fact that this bill will preserve our nuclear fleet and keep thousands of good-paying jobs in our state,” Rezin posted on Twitter. “Going into tonight, thousands of union workers wondered if they would lose their jobs and be forced to move from the communities that they call home. With the passage of Senate Bill 18, we take an important step in securing a better energy future for Illinois.”

With Exelon having set a Sept. 13 closure date for its Byron plant, lawmakers now have little time to waste in getting the measure on the desk of Gov. J.B. Pritzker for final passage. The company has initiated decommission plans at both its Byron and Dresden plants due to clean energy legislation being long-stalled in Springfield.

Complicating the situation are House members who recently adjourned without setting a return date.

“To be clear, Byron will run out of fuel and will permanently shut down on September 13 unless legislation is enacted,” Paul Adams, Exelon’s spokesman, said in a statement. “We have been clear that we cannot refuel Byron on September 13 or Dresden in November absent policy changes.”

While Rezin conceded “this bill is far from perfect” and stressed the levels of compromise that went into making it happen, some Republicans like state Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Louisville) rejected it as bad for Illinois.

“Just when you think this legislative body couldn’t make it any harder for taxpayers and working families to stay in, and thrive in Illinois, someone writes another hyper-partisan, activist bill making it worse,” Bailey, who is seeking the GOP nomination for governor, told the Sun-Times. “It’s time that we stand up for working people instead of demanding that they continue to carry the load for (Democrats') woke, unrealistic agenda. What’s going to happen when inevitably we can’t meet our base-load energy demands? We will have to pay more to import dirtier energy from other states.”

Included in the bill that ultimately passed the Senate 39-16 is language calling for the creation of a statewide energy goal of 100 percent by 2050 and a renewable energy goal of 50 percent by 2040 and additional money for the Byron, Dresden and Braidwood plants for five years.