I've been waiting for news that the state of Illinois would fulfill it's commitment to buy wind power from City Water Light & Power for state buildings and I finally heard the word this morning. CWLP agreed to purchase 120MW of wind capacity as part of the agreement with the Sierra Club and half of that is meant to be used by state government.
CWLP ended up making money on the early part of the wind power purchase (despite chicken little predictions from a few that it would send rates skyrocketing) so the state's failure to follow through wasn't a huge concern to them at first. And who really knew what was going on with Blagojevich anyway? Maybe he thought the wind was for his blow dryer.
So kudos to Pat Quinn and Tim Davlin for following through now that Governor Hairdo is out of the way!
If Quinn really wants to get aggressive, the next step is getting the Secretary of State to shut down the aging coal steam plant that heats the State Capitol Building.
Hopefully, we'll be seeing the Sierra Club/CWLP clean energy agreement in the news more often over the next few months. Some important provisions kick-in after the Dallman 4 power plant goes online this year. The continued success of the agreement's goal to reduce global warming emissions and other pollutants will depend on public involvement and support from the city council.