Environment

Preserving a clean and healthy environment

I am passionately committed to preserving a clean and healthy environment for this and future generations. Over the past 40 years, state and federal environmental laws have been very successful in improving our air and water quality, and in protecting valuable natural areas. Today, however, we face the largest environmental challenge in history, the threat of global warming. As State Representative, I will work to ensure that Illinois is a leader in developing the policies and technologies needed to solve global warming and the other environmental challenges of our time.

Developing a more efficient and cleaner transportation system

Illinois should work to reduce the air pollution and carbon dioxide emissions from the transportation sector. In addition to the environmental benefits of such a move, we have a critical national security interest in decreasing American reliance upon foreign oil. This demands that Illinois take the lead in the fight to modernize our transportation portfolio. Illinois should become the first state in the Midwest to adopt California's vehicle emission standards, which are much stricter than the federal standards.

I will introduce a low-carbon fuel standard requiring at least a 10% reduction in the carbon content of fuels in Illinois by 2020. I also support providing a tax credit to people who purchase cars that get at least 40 miles to the gallon, and investing Illinois's limited transportation dollars into improving mass transit. In the 21st century, it is unconscionable for a major metropolitan area to allow its mass transit system to deteriorate. The General Assembly incurred partially responsible for this deterioration by failing to pass SB 572, which would have provided a fair and sustainable funding stream for the RTA while providing much-needed bureaucratic restructuring, oversight, an accountability. As a State Representative I will do everything in my power to pass legislation like this.

Moving toward a cleaner, renewable energy future

The largest percentage of Illinois's energy is produced from burning coal, a dirty 19th century technology. I believe Illinois must move away from coal and toward renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. I support a Renewable Energy Standard requiring that 25% of energy in Illinois by 2025 come from renewable sources that have a significantly lower global warming impact than current sources. I will also work to end the substantial state subsidies for coal, and to develop 21st century technologies and binding standards needed to ensure that carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants are safely sequestered underground. Developing renewable technologies to reduce global warming not only has the advantage of making our environment cleaner and healthier but it benefits the people of Illinois by creating jobs and modernizing our economy.

Establishing a cap and trade program for global warming gases

Global warming will be limited only if we significantly reduce our emissions of carbon dioxide from power plants, vehicles and other sources. Such reductions can be achieved through a mandatory cap-and-trade program, which sets strict emission limits and allows businesses to determine the most efficient ways to attain those limits. I will sponsor cap-and-trade legislation requiring that carbon dioxide emissions be reduced to 1990 levels by 2020, and by 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.

Promoting energy efficiency

Power plants account for 38% of the carbon dioxide emissions in Illinois and also emit pollutants that cause asthma and other respiratory diseases. The first step in addressing these problems is by reducing our demand for energy through energy efficiency. I will support an Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard that would require utilities to implement programs to reduce energy demand by at least 3% by 2015. I will also work to enact an energy efficient residential building code and to establish stricter efficiency standards for appliances sold in the state.

Protecting the great lakes

The Great Lakes, which hold 20% of the world's freshwater, constitute perhaps our greatest environmental asset here in the Midwest. As State Representative, I will support the ratification of the Great Lakes Compact, an agreement between the Great Lakes states and Canadian provinces to greatly limit water withdrawals from the Great Lakes and to promote water conservation. Additional steps to protect the Great Lakes include banning toxic flame retardants that have been polluting Lake Michigan, and working to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species into the Great Lakes from oceangoing ships and through the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.

Increasing open space in Illinois

The acquisition and preservation of open spaces provides opportunities for outdoor recreation and ensures that our State's most valuable natural resources are protected from unmanaged growth. Unfortunately, diversions of revenue from the Real Estate Transfer Tax that is supposed to go toward open space acquisition has limited the ability of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and local governments to create and maintain parks, forest preserves, and wildlife areas. I will support efforts to stop such diversions and to ensure that the capital budget always includes funding dedicated to open space acquisition.