Peoria Standard

Curt Morgan, the CEO of Vistra Corporation, spoke during a hearing of the Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee on a proposed energy bill being pushed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

As Morgan lauded the bill's vision to phase out coal use in Illinois by the year 2035 in favor of clean energy sources, he also warned lawmakers about the transition's impact on local communities whose economies are based on coal-fired plants.

"I think the other thing that's important to note is the communities," Morgan said. "They're going to lose. Our communities hosted these coal plants for many years and these coal plants have brought affordable and reliable power. They’ve been an economic engine not only for these communities but for the state."

Morgan cited the importance of a balanced public-private partnership to make sure one side doesn't shoulder too much of the cost of transitioning to cleaner energy.

"A lot of people think that when you do a public-private partnership, it's all about the public and not about the private. In this instance, it's everything or greatly about the private side having to come together. We have to come up with $550 million of our own money."

Commenting on the benefits of having a cleaner source of energy, Morgan expresses his support but also gave a fair warning to lawmakers "I know we all want to have a just transition. I want to see change and we think it's time to pivot away from coal, and we think it's going to happen well before 2035, but we also have to remember that we're leaving communities behind."

The energy package would phase out coal use in Illinois by 2035 and natural gas by 2045. Additionally, it would allow $4,000 rebates for electric vehicles in an effort to have 1 million of those vehicles on Illinois roads by 2030.