Rockford Sun

A bill designed to protect clean energy projects in Illinois has been passed by a 73-36 vote in the House and 33-17 in the Senate.

The bill has received both positive and negative feedback from state legislators.

House Bill 4412 was designed to stop counties from making local ordinances that ban local wind and solar projects, a recent press release from the Illinois Environmental Council (IEC) said. This helps the state with their goals established by the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA). The legislation removes various wind and solar site regulations and also has priorities to protect the environment. The IEC noted that more than a dozen bans have been passed in Illinois counties, and the bill will prevent future bans as well as override the current bans.

“I was proud to cast my vote for CEJA, and I’m proud to have brought forward legislative solutions like HB4412 to ensure that Illinois remains on track to meet our climate, jobs and justice goals secured in our nation-leading climate bill,” state Rep. Robyn Gabel (D-Evanston), House Majority leader, said in the IEC release.

State Sen. Bill Cunningham (D-Chicago) also praised the singing of the bill, noting that the legislation brings clean energy jobs and opportunities to Illinois residents.

“Illinoisans expect the General Assembly to anticipate problems and generate policy solutions that ensure the best outcomes for our communities, and HB4412 is a prime example of that work,” he said in the release.

But Rep. Jeff Keicher (R-Sycamore) does not support the bill.

“I argued strenuously against passage of this bill because rural property owners in Illinois deserve to have their rights respected when it comes to siting of wind turbines that affect their land,” he said in a recent statement on his website. “Wind turbine organizations have a history of not properly disclosing their siting to adjacent property owners and not putting dollars aside for decommissioning. The devastating impact to a homeowner of the long shadow flicker generated by wind turbines from a neighboring property in rural communities cannot be understated. The situation makes it nearly impossible for neighboring land owners to sell their home or their property. This legislation contains no protections for farmers and rural land owners in Illinois.”

Keicher's statement also included discussion of an inquiry about another bill that would allow the building of wind turbines and their placement in Lake Michigan.

“Norway, the United Kingdom, Netherlands and many others have proven that the durability, productivity and benefits of off shore wind harvesting are not only more viable but their benefit to aquatic life in the manner of artificial reefs and nurseries are incredibly beneficial from top to bottom,” he said. “Instead, what we have here is an elitist North Shore Democratic environmentalist agenda that suggests their views of the water are too important to warrant any consideration of placement in Lake Michigan. Instead, these same elitists are pushing removal of local county siting authority because, well, they seem to feel no one important lives in rural Illinois so it won’t impact anyone’s view way out there.”

Leon Corzine, a central Illinois farmer, also opposes the bill; a report from The Center Square said. He noted that 78 of 102 counties have been in opposition of the legislation, as it takes away power from local and county governments.

“That is the entire job of a county and county boards, is to protect the county and do what is best for the individual counties,” he said in the report.

IEC Executive Director Jen Walling applauded the passage of the bill in Springfield.

“The General Assembly was proactive in passing HB4412, taking necessary action to defend the economic, equity and climate benefits secured in CEJA by directly confronting counterproductive bans on clean energy,” she said in the press release. “Now our state can continue plugging away at the implementation of CEJA without having to play whack-a-mole every time fossil fuel interests introduce an ordinance intended to delay our clean energy future.”

Next up for the bill is for it to be signed by Gov. JB Pritzker, who has said he would not support legislation of this type because it would create statewide controls of where wind or solar farms are placed in the state.

“I’ve specifically avoided that,” he said in August, quoted by The Center Square. “We’ve got to have a continuous conversation, the one that we’ve been having for years now between the state and local governments and local control so that we decide together about siting.”

Keicher was first elected to the Illinois House in 2018, the General Assembly website said. His legislative experience includes serving on the Appropriations-Higher Education and Agriculture & Conservation Committees. He resides in DeKalb.