| Illinois residents have been warned by grid operators that their energy bills will soon rise. ComEd customers were notified that starting in July, bills will increase by 10% to 15% for a capacity charge. The capacity charge is the supply part of your bill.This increase is due to the retirement of fossil fuels, the slow integration of renewable energy, and increased demand. Read more HERE In Illinois, the underlying reason for the increased rates is the increased use of wind and solar on the grid and the increased demand from data centers that Governor JB Pritzker has incentivized to open in Illinois. Unfortunately, Democrat legislators do not want to address the stability of our grid and the affordability for residents in any meaningful way. Their solution is to produce heavy, large, caustic batteries to capture wind and solar energy. It’s another boondoggle in the making. Last week, Illinois House Republicans sent a letter to Democratic leadership requesting a hearing on the energy system. To date, there has been no response. With just 10 days remaining before the Spring legislative session ends, the concern is that there will be no hearing regarding the development of a reliable, affordable, and environmentally sound energy grid in Illinois. Therefore, we held a Virtual Town Hall: Climate and Energy expert Steve Goreham with his presentation called “Climate and Energy, Fact and Fiction,” which he prepared at my request. Energy is the master resource. It powers everything in our lives. It has lifted civilizations out of poverty and immensely improved people’s lives. Our goal should be to use the most reliable, affordable, and environmentally sound energy possible. That goal is not the goal of the Democratic Party in Illinois. Many of you may have heard that Spain and Portugal faced a total loss of energy just last month.This occurred just a couple of weeks after Spain announced that their entire grid was supplied by renewables, with solar setting new records. Writing in the Wall Street Journal about How the Lights Went Out in Spain, authors Gabriel Calzada and Manuel Fernández Ordóñez noted: “Spain’s system was engineered politically, not rationally. It’s the latest lesson in how not to make energy policy. Will anyone learn from it?” The total loss of energy literally shut everything down within three seconds, as explained in this Wall Street Journal article. |
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| There is no reason for Spain to have gone down this path. We have enough affordable, reliable, and environmentally sound energy to power our modern economies. Their politicians refused to look at facts, and Illinois Democrats are doing the same. More related stories on this topic that people should be aware of: IL lawmakers push warehouse solar despite safety, energy risks: Legislator HUGE WIN FOR CONCERNED CITIZENS OF MANTENO! Trump was elected in part to shut down the green energy scams, and it needs to happen faster, especially when it comes to handing out incentives to companies like CCP-backed Gotion, Inc., which is supplying Rivian with batteries, likely ones imported from China because their temporary occupancy permit doesn’t allow them to manufacture batteries. Gotion is also hoping to be the producer and supplier of grid-scale batteries that Democrats are counting on, in theory, to make solar and wind farms more reliable – another fantasy. However, on Wednesday in Kankakee court, Judge Lindsey Parkhurst denied most of Gotion and the Village of Manteno’s request to dismiss the charges against them in a lawsuit filed by the Concerned Citizens of Manteno (CCOM). The Breakthrough Ideas team attended the hearing and shot a short video afterwards with the CCOM lawyers that explained the proceeding and what it meant. Watch video on our YOUTUBE https://youtu.be/ZD_9TYKay1Y. |
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| Lawyer Robby Dube said, “Everything that Gotion tried to do, they lost on, and the village lost as well. Their rezoning claim against the village is going forward. So what happened is we’ve had our nuisance claim claiming that the Gotion plant is dangerous, that the lithium and the NMP and all the other chemicals are a threat to the environment along with the national security concerns, and that they shouldn’t be allowed to operate. The Gotion tried to get rid of all that. The court said, no, not only am I letting this go through, but she made repeated statements that these are dangerous chemicals, that these are fire risk. And while she didn’t say it, you can read between the lines of Gotion, Good luck proving your case, because I don’t trust these chemicals are going to be safe. And then with the village, they rezoned improperly. They forced through this in a meeting that never took any of the citizens concerns to heart. They basically forced it through to try to get the rev agreement with Illinois. And the court said, I think they’ve made enough of a claim that there was something fishy with this rezoning, and I’m going to let you go forward with it.” As this case goes forward to discovery and, very likely, a trial, the CCOM will need your support. To date, they have raised nearly $100,000 on their own, hosting a variety of small fundraisers. Now they need all citizens who care about this fight, which is not just a fight against a harmful battery plant using toxic materials and located very near residential areas, but a fight also against big government and insider deals, and the nefarious deals Democrats made with a CCP-backed company. You can donate to the cause at Concerned Citizens of Manteno Illinois | No Gotion Illinois |
| The Breakthrough Ideas team also traveled to Springfield for the DOGE Illinois Press Conference, which was conducted by conservative House Republicans. They used data from our work and others to highlight a billion dollars in state tax dollars going to non-government organizations for bogus reasons. I was on with Center Square’s Greg Bishop’s daily podcast to discuss our DOGE IL efforts. |
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| Listen Here WATCH: Illinois In Focus Daily | Thursday May 15th, 2025 | Illinois | thecentersquare.com Here is the latest Illinois DOGE IL article. |
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| Illinois DOGE Profile: Centro De Trabajadores Unidos gets $4 million to help illegal aliens evade ICE Pritzker is helping illegal immigrants evade ICE through non-profits. Not only are Illinois taxpayers providing food, shelter, and more to illegals in Illinois, but we are also funding no |