Kendall County Times

State Rep. David Welter (R-Morris) "couldn't be happier" that members of the state legislature were able to come to terms and pass legislation known as the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act in mid-September.

It took months of negotiations to get to this point and Welter acknowledges it wasn't easy. 

"This bill should have been passed much sooner than it was," Welter told the Kendall County Times. "We experienced some extremely frustrating delays because Democrats shut Republicans out of the process. We fought to make sure the voices of our constituents were being heard and that the needs of our community were being considered at each step, but the Democratic legislators were not as collaborative as they should have been."

The bill cleared the last hurdle on Sept. 13, when the state Senate passed the bill in a 37-17 vote with three senators voting present, the Chicago Sun Times reported. Two days later Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) signed the bill into law. 

"Our children will inherit the planet we leave them," Gov. Pritzker wrote in a Facebook post. "Illinois is holding itself to high standards because the generations to come after us deserve good jobs and a green future."

Welter said the bill has "positive ramifications" for the state's energy future and will help protect the jobs of people who work in the industry.

"It has been an honor to stand with the hard-working men and women who have advocated so strongly for the protection of our nuclear plants and the jobs they support," Welter told the Kendall County Times. "This bill will put Illinois at the forefront of energy production, will keep our nuclear fleet inline, and will protect local jobs."

The Climate and Equitable Jobs Act sets Illinois on a path to total clean energy in 29 years by offering subsidies to nuclear plants and outlined a time-frame to close coal and natural gas firing facilities, the Chicago Sun Times reported. 

According to the Chicago Sun Times, the legislation provides almost $700 million over five years to Exelon nuclear plants and requires municipal coal firing plants to cut their emissions by 45%.

A spokesperson for Exelon Generation said both plants will be refueled "as a result of action taken by the Illinois Legislature to enact a comprehensive energy bill," the Chicago Sun Times reported.