Full Text of HR0961 96th General Assembly
HR0961 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, Energy policy and regulation are vital to | 3 |
| Illinois' economy and have a direct impact on Illinois | 4 |
| families, farmers, businesses, and employees; and
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| WHEREAS, H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security | 6 |
| Act of 2009, also known as the "Waxman-Markey" and "Cap and | 7 |
| Trade", passed by the United States House of Representatives | 8 |
| and now pending before the United States Senate, will have a | 9 |
| dramatic effect on every American, increase the cost of | 10 |
| supplying homes and businesses with electricity, cause job | 11 |
| losses, and impose burdensome costs on the poor and families | 12 |
| with incomes of less than $10,000 annually for whom energy | 13 |
| costs today make up 60% of their average family expenses, and | 14 |
| for families with incomes of $10,000 to $25,000 annually, such | 15 |
| costs make up 25% of their average family expenses; and
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| WHEREAS, On December 7, 2009, the Administrator for the | 17 |
| United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed 2 | 18 |
| distinct findings regarding greenhouse gases under Section | 19 |
| 202(c) of the federal Clean Air Act: | 20 |
| (1) Endangerment Finding: the Administrator finds that | 21 |
| the current and projected concentrations of the 6 key | 22 |
| well-mixed greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane | 23 |
| (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), |
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| perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexaflouride (SF6), in | 2 |
| the atmosphere threaten the public health and welfare of | 3 |
| current and future generations;
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| (2) Cause and Contribute Finding: the Administrator | 5 |
| finds that the combined emissions of these well-mixed | 6 |
| greenhouse gases from new motor vehicles and new motor | 7 |
| vehicle engines contribute to the greenhouse gas pollution | 8 |
| which threatens public health and welfare; and
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| WHEREAS, This finding by the EPA, if implemented, will cost | 10 |
| Illinois jobs and raise electric rates on families, farmers, | 11 |
| businesses, and employees; and
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| WHEREAS, The people of Illinois are dependent on coal for | 13 |
| their electricity, obtaining approximately 50% of electrical | 14 |
| energy from coal for their homes, farms, and businesses; this | 15 |
| heavy dependence on coal is common throughout the Midwestern | 16 |
| states; and
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| WHEREAS, Illinois is blessed with an abundance of coal, | 18 |
| with coal-bearing rocks under 65% of the State, including all | 19 |
| or parts of 86 of the 102 counties; the amount of recoverable | 20 |
| coal beneath the surface in Illinois is estimated at 100 | 21 |
| billion tons, enough to meet the nation's energy needs for the | 22 |
| next 100 years; there is more energy content in the coal in | 23 |
| Illinois than the oil in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait combined; and
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| WHEREAS, The Illinois coal industry is a critical component | 2 |
| of the State's economy, currently providing 4,000 direct jobs, | 3 |
| thousands more indirect jobs, with an impact of over $1 billion | 4 |
| to the State's economy; and
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| WHEREAS, The technology of the 21st Century is providing | 6 |
| cleaner, yet still affordable, baseload generation from coal, | 7 |
| including Super Critical Pulverized Coal at the Prairie State | 8 |
| Energy Campus in Washington County now under construction and | 9 |
| scheduled to go online in 2011, and will provide low-cost | 10 |
| energy to 2.5 million people in 9 states; and
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| WHEREAS, In 2009 the Clean Coal Portfolio Standard Act | 12 |
| became law, which requires utilities to purchase up to 5% of | 13 |
| their electricity from clean coal facilities that capture and | 14 |
| store 50% of its carbon emissions, thus providing incentives | 15 |
| for further development of coal gasification, coal-to-liquid, | 16 |
| and carbon sequestration technologies; the Act also | 17 |
| establishes a goal that each public utility obtain 25% of its | 18 |
| power from clean coal plants by 2025; and
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| WHEREAS, Illinois' abundance of coal and incentives for | 20 |
| coal gasification has made it the world's center for clean coal | 21 |
| technology attracting several projects now in the planning | 22 |
| phase, including the FutureGen project in Mattoon, the |
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| Taylorville Energy Center, the Power Holdings project in | 2 |
| Jefferson County, and the Secure Energy project in Decatur; and
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| WHEREAS, The focus in Illinois and throughout the Midwest | 4 |
| should be on developing and deploying clean coal technologies | 5 |
| rather than a punitive system that drives up costs, leads to | 6 |
| lower baseload energy production, and inhibits or prevents | 7 |
| progress on a fuel that the United States has in abundance | 8 |
| within its own borders; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 10 |
| NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 11 |
| urge our elected statewide officials to express their | 12 |
| opposition to the further acceptance or approval of the | 13 |
| Environmental Protection Agency formal endangerment finding on | 14 |
| greenhouse gases; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That we urge the United States Environmental | 16 |
| Protection Agency to rescind their recent formal endangerment | 17 |
| finding on greenhouse gases; and be it further | 18 |
| RESOLVED, That the we urge the Illinois congressional | 19 |
| delegation to vote against H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy | 20 |
| Act of 2009, and urge our elected statewide officials express | 21 |
| their respective positions on the passage of H.R. 2454 and send | 22 |
| a unified message to our congressional delegation; and be it |
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| further | 2 |
| RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be sent | 3 |
| to Governor Pat Quinn, President Barack Obama, President of the | 4 |
| United States Senate, Speaker of the United States House of | 5 |
| Representatives, the Administrator of the Environmental | 6 |
| Protection Agency, and each member of the Illinois | 7 |
| congressional delegation.
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