
Illinois is famous for the wind-bag politicians who gave Chicago its nickname of The Windy City, but the state might soon be known for harnessing the wind that swirls off Lake Michigan and blows across the state’s farmland. Pat Quinn, the state’s Republican governor, recently signed two pieces of legislation that pave the way for Illinois to generate clean wind energy.
One new law creates the Lake Michigan Offshore Wind Energy Advisory Council. This group of experts from the areas of environmental science, tourism, education and energy, chaired by the director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, will evaluate the viability of wind energy projects in Lake Michigan. It will present its findings to the Illinois General Assembly by June 30, 2012.
A second law, the Renewable Energy Production District Act, establishes that county boards can create renewable energy/wind farm districts, subject to the approval of voter referendums.
Governor Quinn said both acts will boost the state economy by spurring investment in green energy.
The American Wind Energy Association recently reported Illinois’s western neighbor, Iowa, now derives 20 percent of its electricity from wind power.

