St. Charles, Naperville asked to ‘say no to coal’ as cities considered energy contract extensions

Area residents and sustainability advocates held a news conference Monday urging St. Charles and Naperville city councils not to approve 20-year contracts with the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency.

About 30 protestors, with signs calling on City Council members from Naperville and St. Charles to “Say ‘No’ to Coal,” gathered outside the Naperville Municipal Center.

The conference was organized by local sustainability groups Sierra Club Illinois Chapter and the Naperville Environment and Sustainablilty Task Force, or NEST.

St. Charles and Naperville each still have 10 years left on their current power contracts with IMEA, but the agency is urging both cities to enter into new contracts that would last through May 2055.

IMEA, a nonprofit power supply agency that provides power to 32 municipalities in Illinois, expects both municipalities to vote on the proposed contracts by Aug. 19.

During the news conference, speakers from St. Charles and Naperville addressed their concerns relating to the morality, practicality and sustainability of renewing contracts with IMEA.

Most speakers’ objections stemmed from IMEA’s reliance on coal, specifically with its equity stake in the Prairie State Energy Campus. IMEA owns a 15% share of Prairie State, a coal-burning power plant in southern Illinois. The plant was the largest emitter of carbon dioxide in the state and was among the largest in the U.S. in 2022, according to data published by Frontier Group, a nonprofit, left-leaning think tank.

Naperville resident and NEST member Fernando Arriola called the proposed contracts a bad deal and took issue with their length and what Arriola sees as alack of clarity in pricing and lack of due diligence by the municipalities to seek alternative options.

Arriola said the long-term contracts were an old-fashioned way of doing business, and not the right strategy for a dynamic marketplace like the energy industry. He also claimed that no prices, incentives or benchmarks are identified in the proposed contracts.

“IMEA would be better off if they mixed a balance of long-term contracts and shorter contracts to apply flexibility and dexterity for their members,” Arriola said.

League of Women Voters of Illinois President Becky Simon received a resounding “no” from the crowd when she asked, “Would Naperville consider this contract for even one moment if the [Prairie State plant] were located here?”

Rakshita Ruparel, a rising senior at Naperville North High School and member of Naperville District 203’s carbon action plan steering committee, also spoke, focusing on the environmental impact of the proposed 20-year contract extension and stressed the importance of exploring new sustainable power options.

“I’m honored to speak today, not just as a student, but as someone who will be 47 years old when the contract ends, if it’s renewed,” Ruparel said. “This isn’t just about policy, it’s about the kind of world my generation will grow up in.”

Ruparel is also an organizer with Power a Better Future. The group created an “Oppose Naperville Renewing Coal Contract with IMEA” petition, which has garnered nearly 200 signatures, and will organize a youth-led rally outside Naperville City Hall before the City Council meeting on Aug. 19, when council members are expected to vote on the contract.

Naperville’s First Congregational Church pastor Kari Nicewander and Our Savior’s Lutheran Church pastor Ben Sloss spoke to the moral imperative and responsibility to pursue renewable energy sources.

“Instead of searching for other sources of energy and focusing on renewable sources, this contract would require us to continue harming the environment for years, through the use of coal,” Nicewander said. “As people who care about our world and all of its citizens, we must consider alternate energy sources.”

“It may seem like the easy thing to do right now would be to sign the contract, but we are not called to do the easy thing. We are called to do the right thing, and the right thing to do is explore other sources of energy,” Nicewander said.

A Q&A session was held after the speeches, where NEST member Ted Billard fielded one question from the audience about what specific alternative energy providers would make a better partner than IMEA.

Billard said Constellation Energy, NextEra Energy and American Resource Group, Ltd. were all possible alternative agencies that have more diversity in their sourcing than IMEA.

St. Charles has been sourcing its power from IMEA since 2004 and is under contract with the energy provider until Sept. 30, 2035.

Since learning about the proposed new contract over a year ago, city officials have heard concerns from residents over IMEA’s reliance on coal, longterm sustainability and what some have called imprecise plans for converting to clean energy in the future.

At Monday evening’s St. Charles Government Operations Committee meeting, council members will hear a presentation from the IMEA Working Group task force, which has been gathering data to help the City Council make an informed decision on whether to renew the IMEA contract.

A recording of the news conference can be found on the Sierra Club’s Facebook page.