On Tuesday, January 21, Say No to Coal will be present at the Naperville City Council meeting held at the Naperville Municipal Center. The meeting will begin at 7:00pm.
All are welcome to attend and we encourage everyone wear red!
If you would like to let us know you’re coming and join our mailing list, click here.
As Naperville weighs the future of its electric supply, a group of environmental and civic organizations are teaming up to tell city leaders to “Say No To Coal” — and they’re urging community members to back the sentiment.
The Say No To Coal consortium wants to pack seats at the Naperville City Council meeting Tuesday night to raise awareness that a big decision looms over the city: whether now’s the time for a contract extension with its current electricity provider, the coal-heavy Illinois Municipal Electric Agency (IMEA).
Consortium members and supporters will be speaking at the meeting to voice their concerns with the potential extension, organizers say. As part of the effort, organizers have invited the broader Naperville community — residents, organizations and businesses included — to attend in solidarity.
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SOURCE: Chicago Tribune
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Naperville’s electricity supplier is Illinois Municipal Electric Association (IMEA).
80% of IMEA’s electricity comes from their two coal plants, so 80% of Naperville’s electricity is from burning coal.
City Council is considering extending our electricity contract with IMEA to 2055.
Extending the contract would be…
25 years ago, coal generated most of the U.S.’s electricity, but that has declined to just 16%.
Coal used to be a low-cost fuel, but now others sources are much less expensive.
In 2024, 90% of the electricity added in the U.S. has been low-cost renewables.
In the U.S., no one is planning to add coal plants, and unlike IMEA, many producers are retiring them.
Naperville is an outlier, as 80% of our electricity is from burning coal. As a point of reference, 15% of Illinois’ electricity comes from coal.
Our coal use is contributing to a rapidly warming planet.
Over half of Naperville’s greenhouse gases come from electricity.
One of IMEA’s coal plants is in the top 10 dirtiest plants in the U.S. Burning coal releases toxins and pollutants that increase health problems, including asthma, cancer, heart problems, and neurological disorders.
What You Can Do
The email addresses of the city council members are below, so you can also encourage them not to extend our electricity contract but instead clean up our pollution and get competitive bids from other companies. You can just copy and paste these email addresses into a note.
The IMEA is seeking an early extension of their contract with the City of Naperville, and we want to show the City Council that we are not alone in wanting to seek alternative options.
Please join us at the City Council meeting on Tuesday, January 21, at 7:00pm at the Naperville Municipal Center to show your support for Say No To Coal.
