A slate of pro-climate candidates in the Chicago suburb of Naperville, Illinois, swept city council races Tuesday in a political victory hailed by some as a referendum on the city’s ties to coal-fired electricity.
Naperville is the largest of more than 30 Illinois cities and villages that buy power from the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency (IMEA), which is pushing the city to act by the end of this month to extend its contract for an additional 20 years beyond the 2035 end date. And coal is expected to be a meaningful part of the power agency’s fuel mix into the 2040s.
The winning candidates — two incumbents and two newcomers — made it clear in their campaigns that they wouldn’t agree to an extension of the IMEA contract in large part because of the power agency’s reliance on coal plants in southern Illinois and Indiana for the bulk of its energy mix.
“Policywise, it was probably the biggest issue,” said Mary Gibson, who was among those elected Tuesday. “It’s what I spoke to voters about the most. A lot of people in our community weren’t aware of it going into the campaign.”
