Even electricity is leaving blues states

New York state’s tax policy is exiling millionaires to Florida. California’s craziness is banishing billionaires.

But Illinois has them beat with its climate change laws that are forcing two-thirds of an electric plant in Elwood to take the advice of Suzy Bogguss and drive South with the one they love.

Reddy Kilowatt packed its power plant and headed for Texas, which welcomes gas-powered electric plants. The company that owns two-thirds of that plant is hauling away the equipment that will generate 900 megawatts of power for Texans.

This is the reaction to the 2021 Climate & Equitable Jobs Act, which the Chicago Tribune called “one of Gov. JB Pritzker’s signature accomplishments, requires Illinois to phase out the burning of fossil fuels for electricity by 2045 and sets an earlier 2030 deadline for closing certain gas-fired plants.”

Elwood was among the plants that Democrats gave the arbitrary death penalty.

One year after the governor signed the law, the Chicago Tribune proudly endorsed Pritzker’s re-election.

Much to its surprise, the editorial board discovered the evil Elwood plant is shutting down ahead of schedule.

On Friday, the newspaper ran an editorial, “Owner of massive Elwood Energy plant isn’t waiting for Illinois closure deadlines. They’re literally moving the plant to Texas.”

The editorial said, “Imagine that an entire nuclear reactor were shutting down for good in northern Illinois. The move at Elwood Energy is the equivalent.”

Democrats already are shuttering nuclear power plants.

Democrats used the global cooling/global warming/climate change argument to get this law passed. That was stated goal.

But now the real goal of ending cheap energy is being revealed in real time—and peddled as an unintentional consequence. There are no unintended consequences in politics, just undisclosed real purposes.

Only now do the unwashed elitist masses in the Fourth Estate realize saving the world will hit utility customers hardest as Democrats seek to bring equality of income in which everyone is poor.

Except the politicians, of course.

The newspaper acted surprised that the plant, which was told to shut down, is doing just that—but on its own schedule, not the state’s. Rather take the loss, Elwood Energy sold the plant with Hull Street buying two-thirds of the operation. Now Hull Street is relocating them rather than let them rust out.

The Tribune said, “This startling development should raise alarm bells in Springfield, which already has heard warnings from experts that power capacity could fall short of what’s needed in Illinois within the next five years.”

The alarm went off 5 years ago when the bill was debated.

The move by Hull Street means Illinois won’t put the generator out of commission and save the world. The move means all Illinois accomplished was moving 900 megawatts of power out of state.

The newspaper said, “So not only will there be no reduction in overall emissions due to CEJA, the Chicago area will lose 900 megawatts of power that had been critical to meeting peak demand and helped dampen prices during those peak periods.

“Here’s some context on just how much juice that is. Just down the road from Elwood is Morris, home to Constellation Energy’s Dresden nuclear station, where two reactors combine to generate up to 1,845 megawatts. The six Elwood gas turbines that are heading south are the equivalent of one of Dresden’s reactors in terms of capacity.”

Republicans are fighting back like the 98 pound weaklings that they are.

Sean Reed of the Center Square reported, “Illinois GOP aims to keep power plants open, increase charge transparency.”

Are there two more useless words in legislative politics than accountability and transparency? Sure, Illinois Democrats cheat to win elections but the futility of Republicans makes the job much easier, doesn’t it?

State representative Dave Severin, R-Benton, said, “As lawmakers, we should be using an ‘all of the above’ approach to energy policy. Illinois can’t simply shut down coal and natural gas plants before reliable and affordable replacements are ready.”

Why close coal and natural gas plants? Republicans need to stop accepting any premise from the propagandists in the progressive party because the party is run by power-mad partisans.

The bottom line is two-thirds of that plant is moving to Texas 4 years ahead of the Illinois order to shut down.

But the remaining third will not shut down in 2030. Instead it will continue to generate electricity until 2045. You see, the law allows non-profit companies because Illinoisans assumed power is generated pollution-free when owned by companies that don’t make a profit and don’t pay corporate income taxes.

The non-profit Dairyland Power Cooperative in Wisconsin bought the final third of the Elwood plant and will use that loophole to its advantage.

Dairyland said, “Since 2014, Dairyland has retired nearly 600 MW of coal generation and has been awarded a $595 million New Empowering Rural America (New ERA) federal grant. Through the grant, Dairyland will secure power purchase agreements for approximately 1,000 MW of wind and solar projects in the Midwest, while investing in critical transmission upgrades that support grid reliability and resiliency.”

The Chicago Tribune editorial bristled, “Dairyland over the next year will sell the output from those three remaining Elwood turbines into a separate power market that serves downstate Illinois but not the northern part of the state. So, at least in the short term, what’s left of Elwood Energy won’t contribute to meet demand in Chicagoland, potentially inflating prices here that will be reflected in electric bills. That’s 1,350 megawatts—poof, gone.

“A Dairyland spokeswoman tells us the cooperative will determine after the next year whether to serve northern Illinois or downstate Illinois, as market conditions change. Presumably whichever region fetches the higher price will be the one Dairyland chooses in the future.

“Does any of this make any sense in a rational world? No, it doesn’t.”

Oh, it makes perfect sense. Illinois has limited the amount of electricity generated and handed over the distribution of that electricity to a non-profit. Selling the electricity to the highest bidder is logical.

The editorial ended as most editorials do—lamely: “Springfield didn’t solve the short-term Chicagoland power crunch last year. Lawmakers should do so now. It will anger the green lobby, but the governor should call on legislators at a bare minimum to extend CEJA’s 2030 plant-closure deadlines by at least another couple of years.”

The only fix is the elimination of the law, which won’t happen because Democrats won and Republicans are too chicken to demand a rematch.