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Pritzker: Action on Green Jobs Bill Unlikely This Year

Gov. J.B. Pritzker in Rockford on Monday.
IOCI Media Services
Gov. J.B. Pritzker in Rockford on Monday.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker says the Clean Energy Jobs Act is unlikely to come up for a vote in the fall veto session.

The Clean Energy Jobs Act seeks to promote green energy job creation and put Illinois on a path to 100 percent renewable energy production by 2050. 

The legislation is backed by a coalition of environmental, business, and faith-based advocates.

Pritzker said while he believes in clean energy efforts, he wants to look at green jobs as part of a broader focus. 

“What they’re demonstrating for is something I believe in, and we need to look to, you know, look at it in the grand context of what is energy going to look like, energy production going to look like in our state over the next five to ten years," the governor said recently in Rockford. 

Pritzker also said he's supported other climate action, like his executive order having Illinois join the U.S. Climate Alliance, which looks to comply with the Paris climate accord emissions reduction goals. 

In a statement, Heart of Illinois Sierra Club organizer Ryan Hidden said the Clean Energy Jobs Act is the only plan on the table that addresses the “wide range of urgent concerns” on state energy policy.

"Illinois is long overdue for strong policy to support transitioning coal communities—already feeling the impacts of plant closures— and we also need the kind of climate action leadership we've seen in other states," Hidden said. 

He said the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition wants it passed this year. 

Copyright 2019 WCBU

Tim Shelley is the Assignment Editor and Digital Director at WCBU Peoria Public Radio.