Why I Support the Clean Energy Jobs Act

The Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA), known as Senate Bill 2132 and House Bill 3624, is a comprehensive package of clean energy legislation that was introduced before the Illinois General Assembly in February 2019. It has yet to be passed into law.

CEJA is expected to ramp up renewable energy development in Illinois, save consumers money on their energy bills, and create more accountability for utility companies operating in Illinois.

CARE is encouraging everyone to write to Governor Pritzker, their state senator, and their state representative to urge them to pass the Clean Energy Jobs Act legislation in Illinois. We need to do everything we can so that CEJA becomes a reality!

The following letter was submitted by CARE member Joe Turrise to Governor Pritzker.

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Governor J.B. Pritzker
Office of the Governor
James R. Thompson Center
100 W. Randolph 16-100
Chicago, IL 60601

Office of the Governor
207 State House
Springfield, IL 62706

Dear Governor Pritzker,

I am retired, and was a lead machinist for Kraft Foods, Chicago Bakeries. I was born in and lived in Illinois my entire life, with the exception of my time spent in the United States Army. I am a member of the Homer Glen Environment Committee, Will County Citizens Against Ruining the Environment, and the Sierra Club.  

I voted for you and have supported you. Now I am asking you to support the Clean Energy Jobs Act (Senate Bill 2132/House Bill 3624).

The reasons I am asking you to support this bill are:

1 | My wife and two of my three daughters have asthma. A few years ago, my wife had an asthma attack and was rushed by ambulance to Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox. She was put on a ventilator and kept in the ICU for six days. CEJA would improve air quality and it would also reduce the risk and susceptibility to Covid-19.

2 | It would put Illinois on the path to 100% renewable energy by 2050 and cut carbon emissions significantly by 2030.

3 | It would create good paying jobs, with benefits like health insurance for employees and their families, and a retirement package for their senior years.

I recall in my younger days being laid off from my employer. I went out looking for new employment on a Friday. At the end of the day, I was told by eight employers that I could start working at a competitive wage with their company the following week on Monday. Jobs were plentiful. Today, those companies are no longer there.

The Kraft Foods plant I was employed at for thirty-two years was originally Nabisco. The plant opened in 1952. I began my employment there in 1976. There were 4,600 people employed there at that time, all with a decent paying job and good benefits. Today, I am told there are only 300 people at the plant. There was a time when people moved to Illinois because of jobs. For the past decade now, they are leaving the state.  

Governor Pritzker,  I strongly recommend that you support the Clean Energy Jobs Act.

Cordially,

Joseph Turrise

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Let's Push for the Clean Energy Jobs Act

The Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA), known as Senate Bill 2132 and House Bill 3624, is a comprehensive package of clean energy legislation that was introduced before the Illinois General Assembly in February 2019. It has yet to be passed into law.

CEJA is expected to ramp up renewable energy development in Illinois, save consumers money on their energy bills, and create more accountability for utility companies operating in Illinois.

CARE is encouraging everyone to write to Governor Pritzker, their state senator, and their state representative to urge them to pass the Clean Energy Jobs Act legislation in Illinois. We need to do everything we can so that CEJA becomes a reality!

The following letter was submitted by CARE Director Jenifer Garlitz to Governor Pritzker.

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Governor J.B. Pritzker
Office of the Governor
James R. Thompson Center
100 W. Randolph 16-100
Chicago, IL 60601

Dear Governor Pritzker,

I have lived in Illinois for over 25 years, having moved here from Pennsylvania. I am a resident of Joliet and I work as a reading specialist in Plainfield School District 202. In addition, I am a member of a local environmental group, C.A.R.E. (Citizens Against Ruining the Environment), which meets in Lockport, IL in Will County.

Thank you for committing Illinois to the U.S. Climate Alliance in 2019, which will reduce Illinois’ greenhouse gas emissions. Thank you also for your wise governance during this pandemic.

I am writing to ask you to strongly support the Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA). A major reason to support CEJA is for the health of the citizens of Illinois. Reducing air pollution results in fewer cases of asthma, heart disease, and other illnesses. Because I work as a reading specialist in an elementary school, I know from firsthand experience how asthma adversely affects children.

Also, during this pandemic, we know that living in an area with high levels of air pollution makes people more likely to become seriously ill with COVID. Low-income people of color are more likely to live in areas with high levels of air pollution, which is one reason that they are at greater risk of dying from COVID than other populations in Illinois.

The Clean Energy Jobs Act will result in 100% renewable energy in Illinois by 2050. Also, CEJA will get Illinois to 100% decarbonized energy by 2030. This is crucial in order for Illinois citizens to have cleaner air, and also it is crucial in combating climate change.

Another reason to strongly support CEJA, is that it will create thousands of decent paying jobs in our state, and it ensures that job training is available to lower income people. This will help Illinois to recover from the economic downturn caused by the pandemic.

Governor Pritzker, make the health of the Illinois people a priority over the profits of large corporations, by doing all that you can to make the Clean Energy Jobs Act a reality in our state.

Sincerely,

Jenifer Garlitz

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July Is International Plastic Free Month

The following article originally appeared as a letter to the editor of the Joliet Herald, and was written by CARE Director Jenifer Garlitz.

To the Editor,

I am writing this letter because July is International Plastic Free Month. Here are some recommendations for eliminating the plastic that is very unsightly in our neighborhoods when we see plastic bags stuck in trees and plastic bottles littering our streets. Also, many of us are aware of the danger of plastic garbage in lakes and in the ocean, including harm caused to sea birds, sea turtles, and whales.

1 | Call upon city council members and our mayor to enact a plastic bag fee, at checkout at stores in Joliet. This fee could be 10 cents a bag up to 1 dollar per bag, for people who don’t bring their own bags when shopping. The fee needs to be high enough to provide a strong incentive for all of us to bring our own cloth shopping bags with us when we shop. Instead of a plastic bag, a bag received at checkout for a fee should be a paper bag made with recycled paper.  

2 | Decide to stop buying water in plastic bottles, and instead use a stainless-steel bottle filled with filtered water. There are high quality water filters available. One brand is Aquasana.

3 | An alternative to plastic sandwich bags are cloth food wraps, available online and at Trader Joe’s. Also, metal bento lunch boxes are a great alternative to plastic bags when packing a lunch.

4 | The following items can be recycled with plastic bags in the receptacle for plastic bag recycling at Jewel stores and some other stores: cereal box plastic bags (shake out the crumbs first), clean plastic produce bags, plastic newspaper sleeves, and punctured plastic packing pillows and bubble wrap. These items are recycled by the Trex company, and the recycled plastic is used to make park benches and bird houses.

5 | Check Will County Green’s website for information on Styrofoam recycling. It is possible to recycle it locally.

Let’s celebrate International Plastic Free Month by taking action to reduce our use of plastic and increase our recycling of plastic (when it is not possible to avoid using it).

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Wildlife Vehicle Accidents

The following article originally appeared as a letter to the editor of the Homer Horizon. Citizens Against Ruining the Environment supports the viewpoint set forth in this letter.

Seems like everywhere we went in Chicagoland last summer we were faced with road construction: widening roads, repaving roads, repairing bridges and other infrastructure, etc. While the benefits are great, the inconvenience to drivers while the work is taking place can be a royal pain in the butt.

Unfortunately, while we humans eventually reap benefits from the roadwork, the animals where the construction takes place rarely do. Man-made barriers, some temporary, some very permanent, disrupt the animals' normal movement/migration patterns. New traffic patterns, easily understood by those of us who can read signs, can be death traps for animals. Additionally, the improvements to our roads can diminish, if not totally destroy, the animals' natural habitat

It doesn't have to be like that. There happens to be a document – The Wildlife Crossing Handbook FHWA-CFL/TD-11-003, dated March 2011, and written by Anthony P. Clevenger and Marcel P. Huijser – that discusses options for construction roadwork that is beneficial to both humans and animals. If IDOT (Illinois Department of Transportation) follows all federal guidelines in order to qualify for federal money, then the cost for some of these options should be budgeted into the cost of the project.

And what, you may be asking, are some of these options? Well, first of all, what about wildlife crossing overpasses? Every now and then pictures of these structures pop up on Facebook and they look downright awesome. They can be found in some of our western states, they abound in Canada, and in many European countries they are common. Even some Eastern European countries, which were under communist rule for almost fifty years, have wildlife overpasses. Illinois has none. IDOT says there's no money in their budgets for an overpass.

Okay, point taken. An overpass system would be extremely expensive. But here’s another option: pipes of various sizes for the smaller animals to crawl through. This isn't an ideal situation because it does nothing whatsoever to protect deer, but it does save some of the smaller animals and it isn't an outrageously expensive endeavor. Being from Homer Glen I made a point of checking to see if any wildlife pipes are in the Homer Glen area. I was told there were eight wildlife pipes of various sizes under the road between 108th Avenue and Bell Road. IDOT could not locate any pipes west of Bell Road.

Indiana seems to be a bit more advanced than Illinois with regard to protecting wildlife from roadway traffic. They've installed sensors along their roadways that set off a series of flashing yellow lights if anything – animal or human – were to come onto the roadway. Motorists would then know to keep their eyes open and, hopefully, avoid an accident. IDOT says they can't afford the flashing lights, either. An IDOT analysis report can pinpoint precisely where most animal/vehicle accidents take place, but even very selective placement of warning lights is beyond IDOT's scope.

That brings us to the final, and most elementary, option for wildlife roadway protection: signage. We've all seen wildlife crossing signs, but chances are they weren't erected by IDOT. The IDOT manager in charge of wildlife crossing signs, Cory Julius (tel: 847-705-4411), said IDOT stopped erecting wildlife crossing signs sometime back in the 1970's because motorists simply tuned out the signs and IDOT felt they were a waste of money. The Village of Homer Glen formally requested signage and was rejected, as was the request for signage on the 143rd street project.

IDOT is not held accountable to any federal agency for their federal money. By law, they must follow the Wildlife Crossing Handbook, but they don't. WCDOT (Will County Department of Transportation), who gets money from IDOT for their roadway projects, is also supposed to follow all federal guidelines, but they don't either.

A Chicago Tribune article published in 2016 stated there are 1.2 million deer vehicle crashes annually in the U.S., on average resulting in 29,000 human injuries, 200 deaths, and $1.66 billion in property. Illinois alone reports 15,000 deer-related accidents per year. Sadly, the refusal to take any step whatsoever to protect wildlife, particularly in the case of deer, is to practice an inhumane method of culling deer, boost auto insurance premiums, and enrich local body shops.

Wildlife vehicle accidents can't be totally eliminated, but shouldn't we be doing SOMETHING to reduce the number of accidents?

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