Federal Budget

The Illinois Environmental Council [IEC] is a nonprofit organization working to make sure environmental and climate communities are heard in public policy and legislative affairs. IEC published its own analysis of the bill, claiming it would set back environmental progress, jobs and initiatives across Illinois. The organization is worried how the law will affect the wallets […]

Jennifer Walling, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council, which represents 100 environmental groups, considers Pritzker surprisingly forward-thinking on climate. “I’ve been doing this for 15 years and I’ve been through, even before this, almost four different governors’ administrations. Governor Pritzker has been the absolute best on environment and climate,” she said.   “He blends an

The recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act includes significant changes to the way we create and pay for energy. The legislation rolls back investment in clean energy, aiming to return the focus to oil and natural gas. How might these moves impact the wallet of the average Illinoisan?  The non-partisan think tank Energy Innovation found that in

Illinois Environmental Council senior policy manager Cate Caldwell said the state has “long led” on environmental issues and that lawmakers should act in their shortened October legislative session. “While this federal budget threatens to reverse that progress, Illinois can instead double down on its climate commitments and invest in real, bold climate solutions that modernize

Among those who want to respond to the Trump bill with strong state action is Jen Walling, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council, which advocates for more than 100 organizations. Illinois environmentalists have been pushing for the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act, which would expand energy efficiency in Illinois and encourage renewable energy

What they’re saying: “Lowering families’ energy costs and making our air cleaner should be something we all agree on, and yet Trump and his cronies would rather gut clean energy and pollution reduction programs to fund tax breaks for billionaires,” Jen Walling, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council, said in a statement. Read the full

“Really, really dramatic impacts with these cuts,” said Chelsea Biggs of the Illinois Environmental Council. In Illinois, the League of Conservation Voters is estimating that homeowners will pay $168 more in energy bills a year — with a 21% increase in commercial and industrial energy bills. But Biggs said this won’t just cost consumers. “These

The state of environmental policy is in flux. Fifty-five years after the first Earth Day, Americans are divided on environmental policy on a way that wasn’t always true. In states like Illinois, Democrats are pushing to transition to cleaner energy sources, though not fast enough for some activists. In Washington, under the second Trump administration,