Political Quotes

“I am so passionate about this because for southern Illinois this bill is the best bill I think we will ever see coming across the pike. And why would I say that? First of all, if you looked at a geological map of what is called the Illinois coal basin, it in essence is the entire State of Illinois, with the exception of Chicago and the suburbs. It actually bleeds over into Indiana, and it bleeds over into Kentucky. It has as much energy resources there, 250 years of Btu burning capability, as Saudi Arabia has oil. Why will we not have access and use of those energy issues? Illinois is also a highly nuclearized State. We have 11 operating nuclear facilities in the State of Illinois. As my colleague from Colorado said, nuclear power is, as far as emission-wise, there are no emissions, but of course we have concerns with individuals. I want the public to understand base load generating, which is the everyday needs for electricity, just to run the lights on average the whole year, and then peak load generating, which is the times where you really need additional electricity, and that is best met with natural gas, where you can turn it on and turn it off. But base load generating is those standard fuels that we have used for many, many years: hydroelectric, coal, and nuclear power.”