Six months ago, John Delurey, senior regional director of Vote Solar, would say that Illinois “is sitting on the shoulders of some of the strongest and most equitable climate legislation in the country and region.” However, after this year's legislative session, Minnesota gives Illinois a good run as the fairest clean energy state in the Midwest, he said.
Legislative sessions recently wrapped up in the two Midwestern states where most clean energy transition efforts took place in the first quarter of the year. States where Democrats control both legislatures and have Democratic governors have seen a number of bills introduced this session to advance clean energy and environmental justice. However, each had generally different goals and outcomes.
ONE new exhibition from the NC Clean Energy Technology Center at North Carolina State University documented proposed and approved policy changes to decarbonize the electricity sector. Decarbonisation is generally the reduction of carbon dioxide in any sector. According to the report, Minnesota was the most active state in the Midwest and third behind Massachusetts and California nationally. Illinois was second in the region and fifth nationally, with the fewest measures proposed and enacted.
While the report listed at least 16 decarbonization bills introduced in Illinois, none advanced to the other chamber. The report listed 20 actions in Minnesota, most of which did not move forward, but which included a new national clean energy standard and updated long-term utility plans.
Experts say the difference in the number of actions each state took and how many of those measures were enacted can also be attributed to differences in electricity markets between the two states, when the 100 percent clean energy standards were established and the political makeup of legislation their bodies. The Minnesota Senate flipped from Republican to Democratic control in the 2022 midterm elections.
Illinois had a lead, setting 100 percent clean energy standards two years ago with clean energy fair job opportunities at the center of its promises. According to the report, 65 percent of electricity comes from clean energy sources, compared to 55 percent in Minnesota. The Illinois actions noted in the report mostly involved enforcement measures related to existing clean energy goals and renewable portfolio standards, said Autumn Proudlove, report author and associate director of the NC Clean Energy Technology Center.
Now, with additional federal incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act for states to transition from fossil fuels to clean energy, lawmakers in nearly every state have taken and continue to take steps to decarbonize polluting sectors, including of electricity. That was especially true in Minnesota, where Democrats saw more opportunities for action this session than the new trifecta of control of the governor's office and both houses of the legislature.
“Sure we saw [Minnesota] Democrats come into this session with a long and ambitious list of things they wanted to do, and they really got it done,” said Annie Levenson-Falk, executive director at the Citizens Utility Board of Minnesota.
In February, Minnesota passed a 100% carbon-free by 2040 law, which also streamlines permitting for renewable energy projects, defines what qualifies as renewable energy and ensures that the construction or retrofit of large electric facilities receive the prevailing wage in the state. The new law also includes provisions that exclude large polluting incinerators near environmental justice communities from counting toward the 100 percent goal and ensure that all Minnesotans have access to and benefit from clean and renewable energy.
Other actions include reforming his community solar program to serve more low-income households and adopting a new clean transportation standard.
“[Minnesota is] starting to look a little more holistically at those goals and what it means for the state and consumers,” said Proudlove.
Both states are now at a similar point where they need to build more transmission and renewable energy and storage capacity, said Vote Solar's Delurey.
But Minnesota appears to be ahead of Illinois in terms of permitting and the cumulative effects of air pollution on environmental justice communities, he added.
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In addition to setting one of the nation's most ambitious clean energy standards, Minnesota also passed a new rule requiring regulators to review existing pollution levels in an area before granting or renewing a permit in or near an environmental justice community. .
In Illinois, a version of an environmental justice bill was introduced a second time and failed to pass in the House. It would have created a legal definition of “environmental justice” and required cumulative impact assessments and greater public participation in air permitting decisions.
“That would be the moment we could cross the finish line,” said Samira Hanessia, director of energy policy at the Illinois Environmental Council. “As disappointed and disappointed as we are, this is not the end of this policy. We feel very strongly that this policy needs to happen.”
On Thursday, the Illinois General Assembly approved two bills supporting public-private partnership funding as a vehicle for major transportation projects, including the expansion of Interstate 55. Environmental justice advocates and community members pushed back against the actions of last minute by lawmakers, arguing the bills would advance projects that would worsen air quality in communities already burdened by high air pollution.
For clean energy advocates in Illinois, one of the most notable victories so far this year was the passage of a bill that revoked the ability of local governments to limit or ban wind and solar power. A controversial bill to lift the state's moratorium on new nuclear facilities also passed both chambers and awaits Gov. JB Pritzker's signature. Minnesota still has a ban on new nuclear facilities.
Work is still going on for both states. Minnesota is now tasked with implementing everything it passes in a short amount of time, a challenge Illinois is already facing after passing the Climate and Equal Jobs Act.
“This session set some big goals at the beginning of some of the implementation, but there's a lot of work to be done,” said Levenson-Falk. “How do we do it in a way that's fairest for everyone in Minnesota and gets the best results?”