March 14, 2011
To the Honorable Members of the
Illinois Senate,
96th General
Assembly:
In accordance with
Article IV, Section 9(b) of the Illinois Constitution, I hereby veto Senate
Bill 1927 from the 96th General Assembly.
I thank the sponsors of this bill
for their hard work and appreciate their commitment to expanding our economy
and improving our environment. Our economic future and the well-being of our
citizens depend upon access to clean, affordable electricity and natural gas,
and I look forward to working with the sponsors of this legislation in the
future on measures that promote economic development and environmental
protection.
Events around the world are
clearly dictating why we must work harder to develop clean, affordable and homegrown
energy to power our State. We must act now to ensure that Illinois has a
comprehensive, holistic approach to how we develop, deliver and consume energy.
Our efforts must be bold, strategic, and innovative.
Illinois has become a national
leader in renewable energy and energy efficiency by modernizing our regulatory
framework and creating innovative financing tools for the private sector, which
are helping us recover from the greatest fiscal crisis in our State’s history.
By cultivating sustainable energy sector jobs, we are ensuring that a growing
industry is met with a highly-skilled workforce. Studies have already shown
that our clean energy policies are working. More than 100 companies now support
15,000 employees just in Illinois’ wind energy supply chain.
While these steps have put our
State on the right path, more work must be done. We must continue pursuing
policies that leverage private sector resources to build a sustainable,
cost-efficient and independent tomorrow for all of Illinois. Making major
progress in this area will ensure that 25 percent of our energy comes from
renewable sources by 2025
Harnessing the power of wind, for example, will allow our
State to use energy more efficiently, while providing an opportunity for all
types of Illinois businesses to thrive. Utilizing Smart Grid technologies could
revolutionize our utility infrastructure. Building it will create thousands of
jobs for our highly-skilled, workforce in a statewide effort to rewire the
existing grid, resulting in greater energy efficiency and reliability, which
will also protect consumers. Expanding and coordinating energy efficiency
initiatives throughout Illinois will reduce costs and will provide substantial
savings to Illinois businesses and families. We must energetically pursue these
opportunities.
Maximizing clean-coal capabilities
is essential if Illinois is to remain at the forefront of clean energy
development. Clean coal technologies continue to show promising results in Illinois and around the world. Our state, with its abundance of coal and cutting-edge
technologies, is positioned to take the lead. However, our investments in clean
coal must not come at the expense of consumers. As we lead the way out of this
historic recession, we must always be mindful of the effect our policies will
have on the people of Illinois. Not only must new projects and policies be
designed to improve our environment and expand our economy, they must also
distribute burdens more proportionally among residential users and businesses
and provide greater protections against cost overruns and higher energy prices.
Unfortunately, the bill before me today falls short of these goals.
We cannot continue down an unsustainable environmental and
economic path when Illinois has all the ingredients for a sustainable energy
future. We have the opportunity to harness the power of wind, solar, and
biomass, while we explore cleaner options for using coal. We should vigorously
pursue these opportunities so that our energy policies will benefit all of our
consumers.
Therefore, pursuant to Article
IV, Section 9(b) of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, I hereby return Senate
Bill 1927, entitled “AN ACT concerning regulation” vetoed in its entirety with
this statement of objections.
Sincerely,
Pat Quinn
Governor