Newsroom

Thanks to everyone who came out to support our action at State Senator Mike Hastings District office in Frankfort, IL on Friday, Aug. 27th. It was a balmy 94 degrees and the air was humid and thick. We stood at the corner of La Grange Ave. and Colorado for about half an hour before delivering a letter to Hastings’ office. I was surprised at the number of honks of support we got for our signs that read, “Close Prairie State Dirty Coal” and, “Carbon Free Illinois!” Neither Senator Hastings or his staff was in the office when we arrived at 3:00 PM, so residents of the 19th IL State Senate district signed the letter and slid it under his door.

Anna Schiefelbein with the Illinois Green Party, and a candidate for State Representative, said that the Green Party supports the concept of the Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA), but opposes the bailout for Exelon’s CEO and multi-millionaire, Chris Crane. Other speakers talked about their past meetings with Senator Hastings and how he is both a supporter of CEJA and a supporter of the labor energy bill (which is not a climate bill). She said that Hastings wants to run for higher office so he tends to walk the line on this issue. “Offend nobody” is a common practice for elected officials.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

We are meeting at Simmons Park, 1191 E Indian Trail, Aurora, IL 60505, 3pm to 6pm, as My jaw dropped two weeks ago while talking to State Senator Holmes about Prairie State. I couldn’t believe that she thinks this coal plant can continue operations until 2042. We think that our proposed date of 2025 is very lenient and probably too far out given the recent IPCC reports devastating predictions.

Thanks to everyone who came out to sign and deliver a letter to State Senator, Linda Holmes (District 42) last week. She was not in her office, but about 20 people attended the event and her staff said that she would get back to us. You can watch the Facebook live event here.

We are planning more actions and events to shut down the Prairie State Coal Plant, oppose the $700 Million nuclear bailout, and transition to renewable and carbon-free power. Our next GND working group meeting will be on Sunday, August 22nd at 4:00 PM. It is a zoom call. To get the zoom information please text/call 630.878.7454.

For those who are new to the Prairie State issue, some Illinois homes and businesses are powered by dirty coal plants. One in particular, Prairie State, is a coal plant in Southern Illinois that is effectively owned by multiple municipalities across the Midwest, including the Fox River Valley area. Cities like Naperville, Batavia, Geneva and St. Charles all draw their power from Prairie State and they have long-term contracts that are hard to break.

We need the Illinois General Assembly to force Prairie State to close down as part of a comprehensive climate bill to effectively move our state towards clean energy. We are focusing our attention on city councils and state lawmakers who can make this happen.

Come celebrate Bernie’s Birthday with Progressives of Kane County. This will be our first ever fundraiser for the Progressives of Kane County! This will be a chance for those of us who have been fighting for the progressive cause to dine and enjoy time with our progressive brothers and sisters. We have fought hard for the cause, now it’s time to enjoy ourselves before we have to rejoin the fight. You will have a chance to win some cash as we will be having a 50/50 raffle.

The event will be held at Pal Joey’s 2030 Main St, Batavia at 5pm-8pm on September 8th.

Order Your Tickets