GREENS BLAST LEGISLATIVE MOVE TO REPEAL NUCLEAR MORATORIUM; CALL ATTEMPT AN EFFORT TO UNDERMINE RENEWABLE ENERGY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Thursday, April 2, 2009

GREENS BLAST LEGISLATIVE MOVE TO REPEAL NUCLEAR MORATORIUM; CALL
ATTEMPT AN EFFORT TO UNDERMINE RENEWABLE ENERGY

Contact:
Phil Huckelberry
Illinois Green Party Chair
309-268-9974
phil.huckelberry@ilgp.org

Patrick Kelly
Illinois Green Party Media Coordinator
773-203-9631
media@ilgp.org

Green Party leaders condemned legislative attempts to repeal the
Illinois moratorium against new nuclear production. House Bill 875
and Senate Bill 2162 would delete the provision in state law
prohibiting the construction of new nuclear facilities until the
nuclear waste storage issue is resolved.

"Nuclear power is bad for the economy, bad for the environment, and
bad for the people of Illinois," said Phil Huckelberry, Illinois Green
Party Chair. "We need to be phasing out nuclear production. It is
completely irresponsible for legislators to champion it."

Greens pointed out that the expansion of nuclear production would
undermine the 2007 Renewable Energy Portfolio standard law requiring
that Illinois electric utilities produce 25% of their electricity from
renewable sources by 2025 – and in the process, would be bad for job
growth in Illinois.

"Renewable energy production and energy efficiency efforts create more
jobs than nuclear production," said William Edgar, DuPage County Green
Party Chair. "And nuclear is more expensive to produce than wind or
geothermal. Nuclear power is bad for workers and bad for consumers."

Greens also pointed to the effort to repeal the nuclear moratorium as
further evidence of the pernicious influence of Pay to Play in
Illinois politics. The Illinois State Board of Elections Campaign
Disclosure site shows over 30 variations of the name Exelon having
contributed over $2,500,000 to candidates in Illinois since 2001.
Many of these legislators are now sponsoring the moratorium repeal
legislation.

"Illinois needs to ban corporate contributions immediately," said Mark
Mallon, Green candidate for Urbana City Council (Ward 2). "Are we
going to get real reform out of Springfield this year, or more of the
same?"

The Illinois Green Party recommends the expertise of the Nuclear
Energy Information Service (NEIS) for more information on the perils
of nuclear power. NEIS is online at www.neis.org.

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