CEJA pushed to back burner by COVID

“‘The climate crisis is longer-term,” said Jen Walling, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council, “but if we can’t handle this…’

Walling and Sen. Cristina Castro of Elgin, a lead CEJA sponsor, took part Wednesday in a webinar sponsored by the Chicago Area Public Affairs Group on the topic of ‘Environmental Concerns in the Midst of the Pandemic.’

Both bemoaned how climate had been elbowed out by the urgency surrounding the persistent pandemic. CEJA was expected to be a key issue in the General Assembly’s spring session, but that session was greatly abbreviated by the social shutdown meant to slow the spread of COVID-19. ‘Our entire agenda was off the table,’ Walling said. Yet both held out hope for CEJA in the fall veto session, especially after Gov. Pritzker released his eight principles for clean-energy legislation just last week.”

Read the full article here.

Read More

Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order Tuesday directing city departments to intensify scrutiny of new data centers in Chicago — a politically potent move that doesn’t unilaterally impose new limits on the fast-growing industry, but could slow its growth.
Every year, the Illinois Environmental Council (IEC) issues a voting scorecard that grades members of the Illinois General Assembly on how they voted for bills affecting the environment.
Richard Chew is joined by Dany Robles, senior legislative director at the Illinois Environmental Council (IEC); he talks about IEC's 2026 Legislative Environmental Scorecard.