Illinois legislators may be back in Springfield soon for a second extra session. Their sole goal: to strike a deal on a massive energy package. The result will impact everything from Illinois’ role in climate change to your energy bill. But the stakes are particularly high in one Illinois town.
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Christine Lynde says her community feels “powerless” despite being home to a nuclear plant that provides electricity to over 2 million Illinois homes.
Lynde is the president of the Byron School Board. She’s spent the last year signing witness slips and writing advocacy letters to lawmakers stressing urgency to save the plant.
“I m still optimistic, but I probably have never been more anxious about the legislature finishing or making good on a promise,” she said.
Exelon announced plans last summer to shutter that power station, and one in Dresden, this September. The billion-dollar energy giant just filed paperwork to deactivate one of the two cooling towers at the Byron facility.