02/07/2019
Former coal producers: Pennsylvania and Illinois
Pennsylvania is the fourth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the country (after Texas, California and Florida). The state’s economy, until a few decades ago, relied largely on coal. In recent years, it has become a lead generator of natural gas, a coal replacement that still creates carbon emissions, but on a smaller scale.
That’s why its recent about-face on clean energy is notable. Last year, a Republican legislator led a bill to put the state on a path to 100 percent renewable energy by 2050. Another Republican is set to introduce it sometime this month, according to PennEnvironment, a state environmental group. The group is hopeful this will be the year it passes.
“We’re not California. We’re not Hawaii,” said David Masur, executive director of PennEnvironment. “When you have a purple state that Trump won, where the general assembly is dominated by conservative Republicans, it’s significant and shows that other states with a history of fossil fuel production can lead the way.”
Illinois’ statehouse is far bluer than Pennsylvania’s, but the state is just as dependent on coal. The country’s sixth most populated state, it still gets nearly two-thirds of its energy from fossil fuels.
But the new Democratic governor, J.B. Pritzker, has signaled a change in direction. Last week he signed on to the U.S. Climate Alliance, a pact that commits the 18 states in it to the goals of the Paris climate agreement, which the U.S. exited in 2017. Pritzker also campaigned on a goal of 100 percent clean energy.
