Mayor Tisdahl Lobbies Springfield for Better ComEd Storm Response
Evanston Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl traveled to Springfield Wednesday, October 26th to lobby legislators during the General Assembly's Fall Veto Session. Tisdahl was part of a delegation of northwest suburban Mayors and Council Members from the Northwest Municipal Conference. The Conference is the Council of Governments representing forty-two cities and villages in northwest Illinois.
The primary focus of the trip was to advocate for improved storm response and other services from ComEd as it works to secure broader legislation for the implementation of "smart grid" technologies in the ComEd service area. The Northwest Municipal Conference had been opposed to HB 3036, a "trailer bill" introduced to address these concerns, but the conference believed the legislation did not go far enough to offer tangible, long term solutions.
"I thank Senator Schoenberg, Representative Gabel and Representative Biss for supporting the City of Evanston on this issue. Their unwillingness to accept the trailer bill without firm, developed commitments from ComEd for improvement demonstrated their focus on the needs of the residents of Evanston," said Mayor Tisdahl.
The Conference had been working with ComEd for several weeks to develop plans for addressing concerns of cities and villages, but, as of yesterday afternoon, no agreement had been reached. The Illinois Senate considered the HB 3036 on Tuesday. While the bill passed, Evanston State Senator Jeff Schoenberg (9th Dist.) opposed the bill as not being sufficient to address concerns of his constituents. HB 3036 was considered by the Illinois House of Representatives and also passed, but was opposed by Evanston Representatives Robyn Gabel (18th Dist.) and Daniel Biss (17th Dist.) on similar grounds.
Late Wednesday afternoon, the Conference and ComEd jointly announced an agreement to develop operating protocols to address future storm related power disruptions throughout ComEd's service area. These protocols would be developed and filed with the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) within 45 days of enactment of the legislation. The protocols would be fully enforceable through the ICC. With this agreement, the Conference withdrew its opposition.
Tisdahl was in touch with all three Evanston legislators on this issue over the past few weeks and briefed both Schoenberg and Gabel throughout the day on the city's position on the changing situation. "I hope that the agreement between the Conference and ComEd serves as a key component in an overall legislative solution to bring greater reliability and new technologies to the ComEd electrical grid to better serve Evanston residents," added Tisdahl.
Photo: Mayor Tisdahl and State Senator Jeff Schoenberg confer outside the Senate Chambers at the State Capitol, Springfield.