HB2971 Amendment 1
HB2971 is a "shell bill", which means that at the time of introduction it didn't do anything. It was introduced so that it could later be amended. This shell bill now has Amendment 1 which guts the existing Illinois law prohibiting new nuclear production in Illinois until the waste issue is resolved. The amendment is pending before the Illinois House where it will be killed or amended to go to the Senate. Final Action Deadline by the House was extended on May 23, 2008 to May 31st.
The Legislature ALREADY passed an energy plan last year when it approved the Renewables Portfolio Standard of 25% renewables generating electricity in Illinois by 2020. Why change the game now?
Do you remember February 22, 2007? This was the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) public hearing at the Barber-Oberwortman Horticultural Center in Joliet. After all the reports were in the decision was “The only project-specific proposal analyzed in the GNEP public environmental impact statement (PEIS) is for an advanced fuel cycle facility to be located on a Department of Energy (DOE) site. The GNEP PEIS will include the option to move forward with this facility.”
Argonne National Laboratory in DuPage County, IL is one of the U.S. DOE’s largest research centers.
So what do you want for Illinois? It has already been proven that reprocessing doesn’t work. France has piles of liquid and aerial high level radioactive wastes (HLRW) piling up.
What to support? Carbon Free - Nuclear Free by 2050. Let this be the plan of “We the People.” Not a joint plan by the U.S. Federal Government and Nuclear Industry and a few other world governments (GNEP).
• Leave the Moratorium on new reactor construction in place until such time as the conditions it lays out concerning HLRW disposal are met.
• Strengthen the Illinois Moratorium by adding additional performance clauses regarding cost, water use and restrictions, and post 9-11 security assessment.
• Obey and enforce the law – aggressively implement the already-passed 2007 Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard. Make it mandatory as a condition to do energy business in Illinois; and enact stiff penalties to utilities not in compliance towards achieving the final goal, and intermediate targets assessed in 3-year increments.
