Bill would reward companies for investing in Illinois-based energy operations

 By Kerry L. Smith

       The state of Illinois' version of a broad energy strategy to offer incentives for both traditional and alternative energy sources is still alive in Springfield, with co-sponsors hoping it will be enacted before the regular session's end.
    The Illinois Energy to Jobs Act - Senate Bill 1823 - is comprehensive legislation piggybacking the Obama Administration's own energy policies. The act, according to co-sponsor Sen. James Clayborne Jr. (D-East St. Louis), encourages public-sector  investment to create a more expedient, attractive climate for companies willing to make energy-specific capital investments of their own in Illinois.
    At press time, the bill's deadline was extended; it remained in the Senate Assignments (formerly Rules) Committee.
   Clayborne said Illinois' existing permitting requirements, coupled with its inadequate incentives for companies considering such investments - from wind farms to more traditional [continue]