President Obama's new Clean Power Plan could mean good things for Illinois - both environmentally and economically.
The Clean Power Plan will mean dramatic changes to how Illinois coal is used for power production, but Susan Casey-Lefkowitz with the Natural Resources Defense Council says energy trading and collaboration will help ease the transition to more renewable resources.
"Some of this is going to happen with trading between states, and we fully expect states in a region to look across the whole region to try to have their targets be met," Casey-Lefkowitz said.
One type of renewable energy experts say shows lots of promise is solar. Straight Up Solar's Shannon Fulton says coal mining jobs could transition to employment in new energy projects.
"I think we're going to see job growth not just on residential rooftops, but also commercial businesses and utility scale,” Fulton said. “Let's face it, utility scale solar is the cheapest type of solar out there."
Still, some states are already pledging to fight the plan, saying it will decimate their economies. Environmental advocates say without dramatic change, certain aspects of climate change may be irreversible.
