If you haven't picked up the March 3-9 issue of Illinois Times yet be sure to grab one today. The "Greening of Springfield" edition is one of those that makes IT the news source of record for environmental issues in the Springfield area.
Of course, I'm biased toward the article that covers the Cool Cities advisory council and quotes me about how the city election is important in determining Springfield's clean energy future. This election is the time to discuss whether we want our public utility to be totally reliant on coal or whether we're going to continue investments in clean energy and efficiency projects after the CWLP/Sierra Club agreement runs out.
I wrote an email to several editors and reporters at the State Journal-Register suggesting that the clean energy future of CWLP is a vital issue they should be discussing with candidates and including in their election coverage. I received no response. They continue to focus on CWLP porn and their general dislike of Todd Renfrow.
I guess I'm in the mood to complain so I can't help but nitpick that the IT cover is overgenerous when it states that "LLCC leads the way to renewable energy." If LLCC has shown any leadership it's in applying for grants. The Green Center remained nothing but a website for over a year because that's all that was grant funded. The college has shown no overall environmental vision, only recently formed a sustainability committee, and didn't originally plan to make the new workforce development center LEED certified.
If anything, they've been dragged late into the game by national trends and federal stimulus funding. If those grants aren't renewed it's likely that LLCC will abandon the Green Center just as quickly as they dropped the Community Volunteer Center and the adult education programs they gutted when state funding was in question. We have to thank Obama's stimulus bill and the state of Illinois for shoving LLCC in the right direction.