A former school bus driver in Springfield, Illinois, was sentenced to 23 years in prison on child pornography charges, reported WCIA News.
According to the news report, 38-year-old Anthony Marconi was sentenced last Thursday to 23 years in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of possessing child pornography on a computer and one count of solicitation of child pornography.
Authorities reportedly started looking into Marconi in October, which resulted in a search warrant being signed for his home on East Enos Avenue. He was arrested after that search found evidence of child sex abuse material. Marconi was employed by First Student at the time of his arrest.
Attorney General Kwame Raoul said via the article, “My office will continue to collaborate with law enforcement agencies to protect Illinois children by identifying and holding offenders who prey on them accountable.”
Raoul’s Office co-prosecuted Marconi’s case alongside the Sangamon County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Learn more about STN’s Innovator of Year in the new July issue and get excited for STN EXPO West this month. Additionally, Washington D.C. experiments with speed limiters.
Christopher Faust, transportation director for Sangamon Valley CUSD #9 in Illinois and a 2024 STN Rising Star, discusses leading a new district, surviving tornadoes and a windstorm that blew away part of a facility, facilitating technology and teamwork improvements, and anticipation for STN EXPO West.
The parents of a 10-year-old girl filed a lawsuit against their daughter’s district after the child was sexually assaulted on the school bus, reported Kansas City Star.
The federal lawsuit was filed against Taylorville Community Unit School District #3 and Durham School Services on June 17.
Local news reporters reached out to the district for comments but did not immediately hear back from the district. A spokesperson from school bus contractor Durham School Services said the company cannot comment on pending litigation.
The lawsuit reportedly stems from an alleged sexual assault that took place during the 2023-2024 school year between students at Taylorville Junior High School.
According to the news report, in late January 2024, a 10-year-old girl with ADHD and autism was experiencing severe and pervasive bullying by a boy on board the bus and at a bus stop.
During a one-week period, the boy sat next to the girl on the school bus and repeatedly sexually assaulted her on their way home from school, the lawsuit said. The girl was corned as she was assaulted.
The complaint claims the boy told the girl that he would hurt her and her family if she told anyone about the incident. The boy also allegedly sexually assaulted her multiple times off the bus near a community center. The girl reportedly told a librarian at the center what happened, and her teacher was notified.
According to the lawsuit, the girl’s parents filed a police report, demanded protection from school officials and “insisted” the district to keep the boy away from their daughter. The district responded by placing the boy on a different school bus with younger children.
The complaint says the district took no measures whatsoever to prevent the boy from having access to the girl at or near the school bus stop.
After the alleged assault, the girl’s parents were told several times by community members that the boy had a prior history of engaging in acts of sexual improprieties on other younger children, according to the lawsuit via the article.
The lawsuit reportedly accuses the district of failing to notify all teachers of the safety plan, failing to get 30 days of bus footage after the assaults, failing to provide adequate safety protocols at and around the bus stops and on the bus, and failing to follow the order of protection issues on Feb. 2, 2024, which prohibited the boy from accessing the girl’s school.
The lawsuit is asking for an undetermined amount in damages.
New legislation affecting future school bus safety across Illinois could add pressure to already constrained school transportation budgets.
Senate Bill 191, passed by the Illinois General Assembly last month, requires all new school buses manufactured after July 1, 2031, be equipped with three-point seat belts. The bill does not require school bus drivers or aides to ensure students wear the occupant restraint systems or to provide training on their usage.
The legislation now sits on Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk. Under Illinois law, he has 60 calendar days to act. If no action is taken within that time frame, the bill automatically becomes law. This process is outlined in the Illinois Constitution and ensures that a passed bill cannot be blocked through executive inaction—a notable contrast to the federal system.
It is doubtful Pritzker veto the bill and force a three-fifths vote in both chambers to override. It passed unanimously in the House and secure three-times more yes votes than no votes in the Senate.
That is due in part to pushing back the original compliance date three years from Jan. 1, 2028.
Supporters say the measure improves student safety and aligns school buses with modern standards. Critics warn that installing seatbelts will increase costs for school districts already struggling to meet current demand, potentially reducing the number of students they can transport.
Thousands of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students could soon be left without a safe or consistent way to get to class as both the city’s transit systems and school transportation network confront structural instability, rising costs and limited resources.
At the center of this crisis is a $771 million funding shortfall projected to hit the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA)—which oversees CTA, Metra, and Pace—by fiscal year 2026. At the same time, CPS continues to restrict access to yellow school bus services, offering it primarily to students with disabilities or those experiencing housing instability.
The result: A looming transportation cliff for tens of thousands of students who rely on a fragile mix of public buses, trains and limited school transport options.
CPS Acknowledges Strain, Defends Strategy
In a statement to School Transportation News, CPS emphasized its commitment to student transportation.
“Chicago Public Schools (CPS) remains committed to working in partnership with vendors, city agencies, and families to provide yellow bus transportation to eligible students,” the district said. “The district is in the process of developing the FY 2026 budget, which must be presented to the Chicago Board of Education by the end of August.”
As of June 2, CPS reported that 14,135 students (approximately 82 percent of the 17,130 eligible for transportation service out of a total enrollment of 325,000) had been assigned a school bus route during the 2024-2025 school year, which ended Thursday. The majority – 11,894 – were students with disabilities, with 2,073 being general education students and 168 served under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.
CPS emphasized that its transportation system is outsourced and must cover more than 200 square miles of city territory. The routing process is “ongoing,” the district noted, and subject to constant change due to shifting student addresses and school enrollments.
City Transit Cuts Threaten the Backup Plan
For students who do not qualify for yellow school bus service—particularly high schoolers attending selective enrollment, charter or magnet schools—Chicago’s public transit has long served as the fallback.
But that fallback may soon collapse.
The RTA warned of devastating service reductions beginning in 2026, when pandemic-era federal aid dries up. Without new revenue from the state or local governments, CTA could lose up to 60 percent of its bus routes and half its rail service, impacting more than 500,000 daily riders.
The consequences for students could be severe. CPS has not released updated transit ridership data, but a 2020 report estimated that over 70 percent of CPS high schoolers relied on public transit to reach school. That reliance is unlikely to have changed significantly, especially as CPS continues to limit yellow bus eligibility.
CPS Measures to Mitigate the Impact
To address existing transportation challenges, CPS said it increased wages for yellow bus drivers—twice in the past three years – and adjusted school bell times at selected campuses to maximize routing efficiency. CPS also expanded its school bus driver recruitment through job fairs and citywide media campaigns. And it sought an extension of the federal “under-the-hood” waiver that bypasses a need for school bus driver applicants to take the engine compartment pre-trip inspection portion of the commercial driver’s license exam.
CPS and the Illinois Secretary of State offered CDL testing and study materials in both English and Spanish languages.
As of June 2, the district had 901 school bus drivers available to service CPS routes.
CPS also continues its partnership with the CTA to provide free Ventra cards to eligible general education students who qualify for transportation but do not have access to a school bus. These cards have been distributed since the beginning of the school year and remain a stopgap solution.
Still, transportation advocates argue these efforts, while important, fall short of meeting the broader need—particularly for families who live far from their assigned or chosen schools.
In 2023, CPS launched a “hub stop” pilot program to address ongoing bus driver shortages. Instead of home-based pick-ups, students are directed to centralized stops—often located miles away. CPS officials said the program has helped streamline operations and is expected to serve about 1,000 students by the end of this school year.
But the hub model has raised concerns about accessibility, especially for students in neighborhoods with high crime rates, inadequate sidewalks, or limited parental availability due to work schedules.
Advocates have also questioned whether the program adheres to federal transportation mandates under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), particularly for students with IEPs who require specialized transport accommodations.
Chicago By the Numbers
• 325,000+ — Total CPS student enrollment
• 17,130 — Students eligible for yellow bus transportation
• 14,135 — Students routed as of June 2, 2025
• 901 — Bus drivers assigned to CPS routes
• $770 million — RTA’s projected 2026 funding gap
• 70%+ — CPS high schoolers estimated to rely on public transit
• 2031 — Year seatbelt requirement would take effect (if signed)
What’s at Stake? Access and Equity
For years, CPS transportation decisions have sparked debate about educational equity—especially for students on the city’s South and West Sides, who often must travel long distances to access high-performing schools.
Without reliable transit or door-to-door busing, some families report chronic absenteeism, tardiness and even school withdrawal. The collapse of public transit service—combined with limitations in school busing—could compound the accessibility crisis.
As CPS finalizes its FY 2026 budget and state lawmakers continue negotiating over transit funding, advocates are urging both city and state leaders to prioritize a student-centered transportation strategy that addresses the unique logistical demands of urban education.
Without coordinated action, thousands of Chicago students could be left behind—literally.
LISLE, Ill. and MIAMI, Flo. – Mobico Group has announced that it has reached an agreement for the sale of its School Bus division, National Express School (NEXS) to I Squared Capital, a specialist global infrastructure investor. The acquisition, which is anticipated to close in the third quarter of this year, will involve all brands associated with NEXS, including Durham School Services, Petermann Bus, and Stock Transportation.
As one of the largest student transportation companies in North America, NEXS is a transportation leader with over 100+ years of experience in the industry with a renowned history of safe and reliable transportation service. With its high-visibility contracting model and sticky revenue streams, NEXS looks forward to embarking on a new chapter of growth in partnership with I Squared while retaining our market-leading safety record and brand heritage.
Tim Wertner, CEO of National Express School, said, “This transfer of ownership will allow us to stand on a much stronger financial foundation for a wider spectrum of new opportunities and growth to benefit our stakeholders, valued partners, and prospects, as well as reinforce our position as a transportation leader and flourish to even greater heights. With I Squared Capital’s strong reputation and support of our Company, we firmly believe they will be an outstanding steward for us, and we look forward to furthering our footprint in the student transportation industry together.”
Gautam Bhandari, Global Chief Investment Officer and Managing Partner at I Squared, said: “School transportation is more than just a daily commute. It’s a vital link to education, which underpins a functioning society regardless of the economic cycle. As infrastructure specialists, I Squared has specific expertise in providing vital public services, including public transport. Our investment will provide the capital needed to upgrade equipment and maintain safe, efficient transportation for children using this essential service so parents can rest assured each time their family member travels. We are proud to add this critical business to our portfolio and look forward to continuing to support its growth in North America.”
About National Express School
National Express School (NEXS) is the North American subsidiary of Mobico Group, one of the premier global mobility firms. We operate across 34 states and two provinces. Our organizations share a strong commitment to provide the highest level of safety, quality, outstanding customer service and positive employee relations. National Express School serves more than 400 school districts and contracts in 30 states and two provinces, and transports more than 1.2 million students on a daily basis.
About I Squared Capital
I Squared Capital is a leading global infrastructure investor managing over $40 billion in assets. We build and scale essential infrastructure businesses that deliver critical services to millions of people worldwide. Our portfolio includes over 90 companies operating in more than 70 countries and spanning sectors such as energy, utilities, digital infrastructure, transport, environmental and social infrastructure. Headquartered in Miami, our team of over 300 professionals is based across offices in Abu Dhabi, London, Munich, New Delhi, São Paulo, Singapore, Sydney and Taipei. Learn more at www.isquaredcapital.com.
Illinois lawmakers are advancing legislation that would require all newly purchased school buses in the state to be equipped with lap/shoulder seatbelts. Now entering its third reading in the Senate, the bill marks the state’s latest and most promising step toward aligning with national safety recommendations for student transportation.
If enacted, Illinois would become the seventh state to mandate three-point restraints on school buses, joining Arkansas, California, Iowa, Nevada, New Jersey, and Texas.
SB191 is sponsored by Sen. Julie A. Morrison with Sen. Mike Simmons (D–Chicago) as co-sponsor. Rep. Bob Morgan has pre-filed companion legislation in the Illinois House.
A second amendment under discussion would change the effective date of the mandate to Jan. 1, 2031, from the original date of Jan. 1, 2028. According to legislation advocates, this adjustment is being considered to address concerns from previous opponents and help move the legislation forward.
It also does not require school districts, private schools, or school bus contractors to require student passenger seatbelt usage and only applies to owned vehicles.
SB191 with the amendment was referred Wednesday to the Senate Transportation Committee.
The effort to draft and promote the bill has been spearheaded in part by Kimberly Loughlin, an Illinois-based curriculum designer and certified child passenger safety technician (CPST) with the additional eight-hour school bus endorsement. She collaborated with the National Safety Council on revising its 2022 revision of Child Passenger Safety on School Buses course for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The seminar taught at the STN EXPO East, STN EXPO West and TSD Conference each year is widely taught as an advanced supplement to the national 32-hour CPST certification course.
Loughlin became involved in legislative advocacy after a series of personal incidents her family encountered while she was rewriting the eight-hour course. Her son was involved in two separate school bus crashes just a month apart while attending summer camp field trips offered through their local park district. While none of the children were seriously injured, her son was thrown forward and struck his head. The buses lacked seatbelts.
Only a few months later, Loughlin and her son were involved in a separate car crash, suffering concussions and lingering injuries. The experiences reshaped her perspective on injury reporting and the long-term effects of non-fatal trauma, especially for children.
Although her local school district contracts with transportation providers that include two-point lap belts, Loughlin observed that children often didn’t wear them, leading to behavior issues and unsafe conditions. When she encouraged the district to implement safer lap-and-shoulder belts and a seatbelt usage policy, she was told ity would not act unless legally required. That led her to connect with Sen. Morrison, who made the effort to advance state-level legislation.
In developing the bill, Loughlin worked with Denise Donaldson, editor and publisher of Safe Ride News, and Charlie Vits, formerly with IMMI/Safeguard, to draft policy language modeled on similar laws in other states. Donaldson is a CPST instructor for the NHTSA course. Dr. Kristin Poland, Deputy Director at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), also collaborated with Loughlin in support of the bill.
The team of advocates credit recent industry developments, such as Blue Bird Corporation’s announcement that lap-and-shoulder belts would be standard on all new buses starting last fall, with shifting the conversation around cost. With one of the major manufacturers standardizing the passenger restraint systems, the economic argument against seatbelt mandates has lost momentum, they claim.
In addition to the NHTSA eight-hour seminar, Donaldson is scheduled to present at this year’s STN EXPO West Conference in Reno, Nevada, on the top 10 safety concerns in school transportation—including the ongoing lack of lap/shoulder seatbelt use.
While school bus compartmentalization can reduce injuries in frontal crashes, it is insufficient in side-impact or rollover events. Decades of data including that from the National Transportation Safety Board on high-profile school bus crashes support the efficacy of lap-and-shoulder belts, which also contribute to improved behavior, reduced driver distraction and more effective emergency evacuations.
“Something so simple as a seatbelt can make all the difference in the world,” Loughlin said. “It shouldn’t take a catastrophic event to realize the importance of protecting kids in this very basic way.”
A Ridgeview School District bus driver in McLean County, Illinois, is facing charges for allegedly grabbing an 11-year-old student and leaving red marks on the back of his neck and arms, reported 25 News.
The bus driver, identified as 64-year-old Joseph C. Zimmerman, is facing one felony count of aggravated battery to a child than 13 and two misdemeanor battery counts.
According to the news report, police saw a video showing Zimmerman grabbing the boy by the back of the neck. Zimmerman admitted grabbing the boy’s arm but said he does not remember grabbing the child’s neck.
Zimmerman reportedly grabbed the boy for kicking a ball out of the bus. He told police that students are not allowed to have balls in the bus and this particular ball did not belong to the boy.
The article states that a judge released Zimmerman on the condition that he does not have contact outside his house with anyone under 18-years-old. It was unclear if he was fired from his job or suspended pending investigation.
As long-distance transmission line capacity emerges as a bottleneck for Illinois’ clean energy transition, state lawmakers and advocates are drafting legislation to establish state incentives for power line projects.
One proposal under consideration would allow independent transmission developers to access subsidies through the state’s Renewable Energy Credit (RECs) program, the same mechanism that has fueled the state’s solar boom.
“Merchant transmission developers are essentially building a road — generators pay to put their electricity on that road and send it to customers,” said James Gignac, Midwest senior policy manager for the Union of Concerned Scientists, a member of the coalition working with legislators on an energy bill building on 2017’s Climate & Equitable Jobs Act, or CEJA.
The Illinois legislation being prepared for this spring’s session would create another source of revenue for such projects, lowering the cost burden on wind and solar developers looking for a more direct route to power customers. Unlike projects funded by utility ratepayers, merchant lines do not need to go through the lengthy planning and financing process overseen by regional grid operators such as MISO and PJM.
“These [high voltage, direct current] lines can serve a different purpose,” Gignac said. “It’s an overlay or additional feature of the transmission system. They can provide important benefits that supplement the [regional transmission organization] plan.”
A regional need
CEJA mandates that almost all of the state’s fossil fuel generation cease by 2045. Especially with the boom in data centers, some are worried Illinois won’t be able to meet its energy needs with renewables and nuclear if coal and gas plants close.
“Transmission is a huge part of the equation, it will be important in helping us take inefficient coal and gas plants off-line, and it will help bring on extraordinary amounts of clean energy,” said Christine Nannicelli, Sierra Club Beyond Coal senior campaign representative.
In December, MISO, which manages the grid for most of Illinois and a large part of the central U.S. spanning from the Dakotas to the Gulf Coast, approved a batch of 24 long-distance transmission projects on top of 18 interregional transmission lines approved in 2022. But these lines will likely take a decade or more to build, given lengthy bureaucratic processes.
Merchant lines can be constructed much more quickly, as they do not need to be studied and deemed necessary through the regional transmission organization process. They just need to be interconnected to the regional grid system, as well as receive certain approvals in the states they pass through. Illinois advocates have also proposed that legislation designate merchant lines as public utilities, giving them an easier path to eminent domain powers.
Merchant lines including the Grain Belt Express, which would stretch from Kansas through Missouri to the Illinois-Indiana border, have faced opposition from landowners concerned about the routes and eminent domain. Merchant lines also introduce competition for utility companies, which have pushed for legislation in various states to limit such competition.
Some advocates argue competition can be good for ratepayers and the environment. Merchant lines could bring renewable power into Illinois from other states, and also make it easier for new renewables to be built in Illinois and connected to the grid. There can be long delays for new wind and solar farms to get approval to be connected to the MISO grid. These renewables could connect to merchant lines without delay.
Grain Belt Express developer Invenergy, based in Chicago, is among the backers of a transmission incentive bill.
Another merchant transmission line seeking to deliver power to Illinois is SOO Green, a proposed 350-mile underground cable between Iowa and Illinois following a railroad right-of-way.
Both projects would facilitate sharing power between MISO and PJM grids, a necessity especially as extreme weather events increase, experts say. Last May, the twoorganizations for the first time agreed to coordinate on their long-range planning,
The Clean Grid Alliance, a national organization, advocates for grid expansion both through the regional transmission organizations’ planning processes, and through merchant lines. The alliance supported a proposal during the last Illinois legislative session that would have created RECs for merchant transmission. Clean Grid Alliance vice president of advocacy Jeff Danielson said he does not know of any other states that have created RECs for this purpose.
“We encourage states to help in any way possible to get the electric interstate superhighway built,” said Danielson. “It really is up to the states to secure their own economic future around a resilient and commerce-friendly grid. Whether it’s a REC concept, direct power purchase agreements, permitting reform, we encourage all of it. We literally need to build the transmission everywhere all at once.”
Financial lift
Since projects like Grain Belt Express and SOO Green cover multiple states, it may seem unfair for one state to carry more of the financial burden by offering subsidies. But Danielson said that may be necessary to tip the balance and make sure transmission gets built; and other states should follow Illinois’s lead.
“There’s the idea it will just get built,” without state action, Danielson said. “But it won’t, it hasn’t. Merchant lines are incredibly difficult to build. A governor has to understand the value to his state, his colleagues in other states have to understand this is what’s going to drive economic growth. Every time they’re in a meeting they should be saying, ‘We have to get to yes.’ It’s a shared opportunity and shared responsibility.”
A March 2024 study by the Illinois Power Agency estimated that credits for the SOO Green line would cost ratepayers $430 million per year, while reducing utility bills to save them $178 million per year. The line would also add $414 million in economic benefit to the state’s economy, the agency found.
The Laborers’ International Union of North America is among the labor unions supporting a transmission-incentives bill. The union’s Midwest governmental affairs director, Sean Stott, noted that Invenergy’s Grain Belt Express, for example, is projected to create 1,500 construction jobs in central Illinois.
“They’ve made a commitment to employing residents of central Illinois to do that work, including members of the Laborers union,” he said. “Any time you do that, you’ll have money in the pockets of workers. It would definitely generate a significant amount of economic activity in the local community.”
He doesn’t think union members would resent the additional charges on electric bills to fund transmission incentives.
“There are no free lunches in life, there would be a small charge, however they would receive by virtue of an influx of lower-cost power, downward pressure on their electric bills,” he said.
The Illinois Manufacturers’ Association also supports such legislation.
“We’ve seen warnings for the last couple years both in PJM and MISO of potential brown-outs,” said association president Mark Denzler. “When there are challenges, the first folks they ask to reduce load are industries. Transmission projects are one place where the state has the ability to work on making sure we have reliability.”
The legislation might also include a component known as “next generation highways,” allowing transmission lines to be co-located with highways, a situation currently prohibited under Illinois law. Minnesota last year passed similar legislation.
“We want to at least allow utilities the option to consider that,” said Gignac. “It’s something states can do, allowing some flexibility in the location of transmission lines.”
Danielson framed the relationship to highways as symbolic on a larger level.
“We have never thought about our grid in an integrated interstate commerce way like we thought about the highway system in the 1950s, and we really need to,” he said. “Because resilience to weather events and connecting economies through clean energy and 24-7 internet commerce are going to be the reasons Midwest states and the U.S. in general are going to be an economic leader in the future.”
The last time President Donald Trump took office, Illinois had just passed the Future Energy Jobs Act (FEJA), creating an ambitious renewable electricity mandate, solar incentive programs, green job training and equity provisions to propel the state’s clean energy economy.
That progress is offering both a blueprint and a source of hope for Illinois clean energy and environmental justice advocates as they try to keep the state’s clean energy transition on track during a second Trump presidency.
“The state policy is designed to be responsive to a lack of federal climate leadership, to the need for Illinois to step up into a position of climate leadership,” said Vote Solar deputy Midwest program director John Delurey, who added that since the 2024 election “I’m at the point where I can channel my existential dread into state-based action.”
Illinois lawmakers expanded on FEJA with the Climate & Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) in 2021, and advocates expect another state energy bill in 2025 to prioritize energy storage and otherwise further clean energy goals, including planning for the mandatory closing of almost all fossil fuel generation by 2035.
“With CEJA we’ve mapped out an ambitious climate plan, and we’re in a strong position to further those goals even under a Trump administration,” said Madeline Semanisin, Midwest equitable building decarbonization advocate for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “This is not the first Trump administration. States and cities are more prepared this time to accelerate initiatives at the state and city level.”
That’s not to say the state won’t be affected by a president who is hostile toward clean energy policy. Several federal tax credits and grants that have helped accelerate progress in Illinois could be at risk under Trump, and a rollback of federal environmental regulations or enforcement could prolong pollution from coal ash, power plants and other sources.
James Gignac, Union of Concerned Scientists lead Midwest senior policy manager for the Climate & Energy program, said he thinks of the state’s clean energy outlook in terms of headwinds and tailwinds, which will continue to shift based on economic and political factors beyond the state’s control.
“States for many years have not been able to rely on the federal government for climate action, whether due to politics or the Supreme Court,” Gignac said. “The election results will make it harder to achieve the goals that Illinois has established. It doesn’t fundamentally change the energy policy path that the state is on, it just makes it even more urgent that state legislators pass additional policies.”
Tax credits and grants
Federal funds from the Inflation Reduction Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and other federal programs have helped Illinois and individual cities and counties carry out their clean energy goals. Illinois was awarded more than $430 million in a Climate Pollution Reduction Grant for implementation of the state’s goals on industrial decarbonization, clean energy, clean transportation and freight, climate-smart agriculture, and building energy efficiency.
Illinois was also awarded $156 million in federal Solar for All funds to bolster solar and equity goals including workforce training, residential solar deployment, and community engagement.
Illinois advocates and experts said they expect federal funds that have already been awarded to be paid out, and they don’t expect the Trump administration and Republican-dominated Congress to make major changes to the IRA or infrastructure law, especially given the financial impact those laws have had in Republican-dominated areas.
“We have seen hundreds of thousands of dollars for small businesses and farmers” paid out through the federal Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), not to mention federal IRA funds, that “overall are benefitting Republican districts” during the Biden administration, noted Angela Xu, Illinois Environmental Council municipal engagement manager.
Even if new federal funding windfalls are not available in the future, advocates say the funds awarded during the Biden administration will have lasting impact, combined with state-level programs and funding sources that will continue, and market forces that are making clean energy increasingly competitive.
“President-elect Trump has indicated his intention to roll back IRA programs, but keep in mind that when President Trump was elected last time, he and the Republican-led Senate and House were hellbent publicly on rolling back Obamacare, and that didn’t happen,” said Environmental Law & Policy Center executive director Howard Learner.
“The IRA has supported smart, sensible renewable energy development in red states and blue and purple states,” he added. “There’s no question if President Trump tries to cut back and constrain the IRA, it will have some impact on the pace of renewable energy development and other climate change solutions. On the other hand, it’s very hard to keep better technology from growing. When new technologies come to the market and they are better and cleaner and economically sensible, they tend to accelerate and capture more market share.”
Illinois Shines, the program creating lucrative Renewable Energy Credits for distributed solar, is funded through ratepayer payments — so it is not dependent on federal funding. That doesn’t mean it is immune from federal action, since the federal Investment Tax Credit and the global solar market influence the viability of projects in Illinois.
“There are levers they can pull, through an act of Congress they can change the ITC, which is an important part of the value stack for renewables,” said Delurey, of Trump and his allies in Congress. “And they could deploy tariffs which make the landscape a lot more complicated. The U.S., thanks to the IRA, is making its way towards onshoring and bringing a lot of manufacturing back stateside, but we’re not quite there yet.”
If the tax credit is reduced or solar panels get more expensive because of tariffs, Illinois’s incentives “would probably have to be adjusted accordingly,” Delurey said, with bigger incentives for each project.
“It would just mean fewer megawatts and kilowatts in Illinois. We’d still be deploying solar, but it is sensitive to the price of clean energy.”
Environmental justice
Advocates agree that the Biden administration’s Justice 40 mandate, that 40% of the benefits of many federal climate and other programs go to disadvantaged communities, is likely to be ended or ignored by the Trump administration.
Lower-income and marginalized communities could also be affected by understaffing, delays or rollbacks in federal programs like LIHEAP, which provides energy bill assistance, and energy efficiency rebates for low-income households.
“We can put things in state legislation that supports these communities,” including in the Illinois energy bill being drafted for introduction in 2025, Semanisin said. “Justice 40 is a framework we can incorporate in state legislation as well, to prioritize people who have been historically underserved.”
During his first administration, Trump made significant rollbacks to coal plant wastewater protections, and to the 2015 federal rules governing the storage and cleanup of coal ash. Both are big issues in Illinois, where eight coal plants are still operating, and coal ash is stored in 76 ponds, landfills and other sites, according to an Earthjustice analysis.
Earthjustice senior attorney Jenny Cassel said experts anticipate Trump will again try to weaken the Clean Water Act and coal ash protections. Meanwhile it’s likely the EPA under his administration will do little to enforce the coal ash regulations, which was largely the case before the Biden administration made coal ash a priority.
Illinois passed its own state coal ash rules in 2019, after lobbying by activists who wanted to make sure the rules were at least as strong as federal rules and covered legacy ponds not included in federal rules at the time. In 2024, the federal rules were expanded to cover legacy ponds as well as historic ash and coal ash landfills, but that provision is being challenged in federal court. The state rules do not cover ash historically dumped or scattered around, and they also do not cover inactive coal ash landfills.
Meanwhile the implementation of the Illinois coal ash law has been extremely slow. The law requires each site to get an operating permit with pollution limits that can then be enforced, but so far only two permits at one coal plant site have been issued, Cassel said.
“We keep hearing excuse after excuse” from the Illinois EPA that issues the permits, Cassel said. “‘We don’t have enough people, they’re tied up in administrative hearings, conditions are changing,’ every dog-ate-my-homework excuse in the book.”
“At the federal level, there’s any number of potential ways they could attempt to roll back the [coal ash] rules, or weaken areas that haven’t been fully defined,” she added. “That’s certainly what they did in round one. Illinois will really have to step up into the vacuum of protectiveness we expect at the federal level.”
Local action
Chicago — site of the 2024 Democratic National Convention — has long been a target of Trump’s ire, and Chicago officials during his last administration and today are outspoken about countering Trump’s agenda.
Chief Sustainability Officer Angela Tovar said the city will continue its work on solar, electric vehicles and building decarbonization, as well as centering environmental justice in planning, zoning and enforcement decisions.
“So much of everyone’s local regulations hinge on things like the Clean Air Act and federal standards; there is going to be this question of federal preemption, what home-rule authority do we have?” Tovar said. “Those are still outstanding questions. Every rollback will present its own set of challenges for cities and states. What I am at least grateful for in being in the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago is we do have such robust climate leadership at the state and local level.”
The city’s environmental justice ordinance requires a holistic look at pollution — from traffic and other sources — when industrial development is proposed. That could help protect communities even if federal pollution limits are relaxed. The city has also launched an interdepartmental environmental justice working group, involving “every department that touches air, land and water,” as Tovar said.
The city program Green Homes Chicago funds energy efficiency upgrades for qualifying single- and multi-family homes, which could help fill the gap if federal home rebates are reduced, Tovar noted. Chicago Recovery Plan funding from federal pandemic relief and city bond issuances could help compensate for any funding that might be lost if IRA is undermined, she added.
“The role of cities and states becomes even increasingly more important right now,” Tovar said. “We have an ability to really demonstrate leadership in this moment. For cities like Chicago that have already made some progress, it’s up to us to ensure we’re sharing best practices and working together to really create those safeguards and fortify basic environmental and health protections at a local level. We’re certainly going to maintain our commitment, make sure we are rolling out our programs, and unwavering in our pursuit of environmental justice.”
Two community-based geothermal pilot projects, each led by equity-focused nonprofits, have advanced to the second phase of funding through a U.S. Department of Energy program.
Blacks in Green, a community organization based in Chicago, and Home Energy Efficiency Team, a Boston-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting an equitable transition to clean energy, were included last week in a set of five projects across the country that have been awarded a total of more than $35 million from the DOE’s Geothermal Technologies Office to implement geothermal installations.
The five project teams advancing to the next phase of the DOE project were among a cohort of 11 projects participating in the initial phase of the program, where coalitions selected project sites, assessed geothermal resource and permitting needs, conducted feasibility analysis and local engagement, and identified workforce and training needs. The selected projects’ range of sizes, technologies, and innovations will provide potential templates for other communities considering implementing geothermal systems.
Three of the five projects are located in urban or suburban areas; two are in rural communities. The other three recipients are the city of Ann Arbor, Michigan; the University of Oklahoma, for a project in the town of Shawnee; and GTI Energy, for a project in Hinesburg, Vermont.
Tapping into Chicago’s alleys
Blacks in Green, located in West Woodlawn, a predominantly Black community on Chicago’s South Side, serves as the lead for a coalition which was awarded $9.9 million for its Sustainable Chicago Geothermal pilot. Other coalition partners are the City of Chicago, University of Illinois, The Accelerate Group, Citizens Utility Board, Climate Jobs Illinois, dbHMS, GeoExchange, and Illinois AFL-CIO.
The pilot, also located in West Woodlawn, utilizes alleys to circumvent the need for vast open plots for subterranean loop fields that form the heart of a geothermal array. Locating the bulk of geothermal loop lines in alleyways also sidesteps the underground congestion of existing utility infrastructure typically located underneath city streets.
It’s among an assortment of elements in the Sustainable Square Mile approach that advances BIG’s vision for energy justice through clean energy and microgrid/VPP systems owned and managed by the community, said Naomi Davis, BIG’s founder and CEO.
“BIG launched in 2007 with a goal of increasing household income and community resilience against the harms of climate crisis at neighborhood scale using the new green economy — so we’re grateful for this chance to make it manifest,” Davis said in a news release.
Along with installation of the needed infrastructure within the multiblock footprint, year two of the West Woodlawn project will focus on community outreach and job programs. Once construction is complete, the geothermal system will provide heating and cooling, not to mention lower utility bills, for potentially more than 200 households.
“The Sustainable Chicago Geothermal project will be a transformational investment in the West Woodlawn community. The effort to eliminate harmful emissions from homes and businesses, while lowering energy burden, has proven to be a community-wide challenge, and requires a community-wide solution,” said Andrew Barbeau, president of The Accelerate Group and principal investigator of the Blacks in Green project, in a news release.
The need to reconstruct the alleyways after installation of the geothermal array also presents the opportunity to replace asphalt or concrete with permeable pavers. This would work to promote climate resiliency through mitigation of urban flooding, a persistent occurrence in many of Chicago’s South and West Side communities, said Nuri Madina, the director of Sustainable Square Mile, who serves as point person for the pilot.
“All of our programs are designed to create multiple benefits,” Madina told the Energy News Network in September.
A first-of-its kind project in suburban Boston
Home Energy Efficiency Team, commonly referred to by the acronym HEET, in partnership with Eversource Energy; the city of Framingham, Massachusetts; and engineering consultant Salas O’Brien; was awarded $7.8 million toward construction of a utility-based,community-scale geothermal system.
“We are honored to receive this funding from the DOE’s Geothermal Technologies Office as part of the Community Geothermal Heating and Cooling initiative, and to show how geothermal energy networks can be interconnected to increase efficiency, build resilience, and decarbonize at the scale and speed we need to achieve our climate goals,” said Zeyneb Magavi, executive director for HEET, in a news release.
The proposed plans by HEET and its partners would connect to the first Framingham geothermal network, which was commissioned earlier this year. Once approved by the state Department of Public Utilities and upon completion, it would represent the first utility-owned community geothermal network to connect to an adjacent operational loop, establishing guidelines for the interconnection and growth of geothermal networks.
“This innovative project not only showcases Framingham’s commitment to sustainable energy solutions but also sets a precedent for other communities across the nation. By harnessing the natural heat from the earth, we are taking a significant step towards reducing our carbon footprint and promoting renewable energy sources. Our collaboration with HEET and Eversource exemplifies the power of partnerships in driving forward clean energy initiatives,” said Framingham Mayor Charlie Sisitsky in a news release.
“So instead of feeding natural gas into these buildings, we could feed geothermal water,” Magavi said. “And then we could meter that and sell that. It’s no different than when you pay your water bill.”
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to finalize more than $200 million in grant funding in the coming weeks to accelerate the clean energy transition at three Great Lakes shipping ports.
The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority, Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority, and the Illinois International Port District were each selected for grants last month under the Biden administration’s Clean Ports Program.
The U.S. EPA said it intends to finalize grant agreements by December or January. That action will obligate the federal government to pay roughly $3 billion in grants under the program, even if President-elect Donald Trump or the next Congress tries to repeal or block further action under the Inflation Reduction Act.
The $94 million grant announced for the Cleveland port is the largest it has ever received and will help it build on work that’s already underway to electrify and decarbonize its infrastructure.
“It puts us at the forefront of decarbonization,” said William Friedman, president and chief executive officer of Cleveland’s port authority. “Now we’ll be able to start figuring out what’s the phase-in and then how do we move forward with the next round.”
The Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority will get approximately $25 million for solar panels, charging infrastructure and electric cargo handling equipment, and another $95 million will go to the Illinois EPA for solar, battery storage and hydrogen-related investments at the Illinois International Port District serving greater Chicago.
The largest share of grants will go to ports along the East and West coasts. “But the program is also intended to set the foundation for transitioning the entire port industry to zero emissions,” said Jennifer Macedonia, a deputy assistant administrator for U.S. EPA. “And there are important communities around many of our inland ports as well.”
The shipping industry accounts for roughly 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. While the bulk of that is from ships themselves, port operations typically rely on diesel power for most of their energy. And ships often burn fuel to power equipment even while they’re in port.
The EPA’s review process included ensuring that selected projects can achieve or exceed goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as well as other pollution that can affect nearby communities, said U.S. EPA Administrator Michael Regan. Those criteria air pollutants are ozone, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, lead, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide.
The work is especially important for Ohio, which has lagged other Midwest states and regions in deploying strategies to reduce greenhouse gases, said Valerie Katz, deputy director for Cuyahoga Green Energy. “Our regional decarbonization efforts will reduce environmental exposure to toxic air pollutants for downstream Ohio communities.”
Funding for the Port of Cleveland will encompass work for electric cargo-handling equipment and vessels that serve the port, along with solar generation and battery storage, charging infrastructure and shore power for vessels. Project partners include Logistec USA, the commercial operator for day-to-day operations, as well as the Great Lakes Towing Company, which will build two electric tug boats.
Decarbonization is a “competitive advantage that will attract more shipping volume to our port,” said Baiju Shah, president and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Partnership. “Companies are striving to reduce their environmental footprints through their operations and value chains,” including Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions. “In addition, electrifying the port operations supports our region’s clean air efforts.”
That’s especially important given the port’s location near the downtown lakefront and riverfront areas, Shah said. Lake Erie and the Cuyahoga River are the focus for several waterfront development projects aimed at drawing more business and visitors to Cleveland.
Funding for the Port of Detroit will go toward electric cargo-handling equipment, some vessels and railcar movers, along with charging infrastructure and solar generation. Part of the money also will be used to develop a roadmap for adding EV and hydrogen fueling infrastructure. The Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority is part of the Midwest Alliance for Clean Hydrogen, or MachH2, which was selected last year for $1 billion in Department of Energy funding for a hydrogen hub.
Funding for the Illinois International Port District will cover a variety of projects for its three ports, including hydrogen fueling infrastructure, solar energy and battery storage, and hydrogen and electric cargo handling equipment. Hydrogen and electric locomotives also are on EPA’s program selections list. The Illinois EPA is the lead partner for the grant work.
Like its counterpart in Cleveland, the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority had already begun working on plans to move to cleaner energy sources for Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions. But zero-emissions equipment to move cargo is new in the U.S. shipping industry and is still generally more expensive than fossil-fueled counterparts.
“What’s great about the EPA grant is that it helps these businesses make the decision to choose this cleaner technology,” said Mark Schrupp, executive director for the Detroit port authority. Over time, costs for such equipment should come down, but the grants will help launch market growth.
Various projects among the 55 selected for grants last month have planning components and provisions for community engagement or workforce development. Planning work on emissions inventories can position other ports to move ahead with clean energy in the future, Macedonia said.
The U.S. EPA plans to move ahead swiftly to finalize grant agreements, which will have the effect of protecting the funds from a possible clawback under Trump or the next Congress.
“We will be awarding the grants in December of 2024 and January of 2025… so that money will be obligated on or before the end of this administration,” Regan said. Depending on the projects, implementation will occur over the next three to four years.
In Cleveland, that means a big chunk of work under the new grant will be taking place even as renovation of the Port of Cleveland’s Warehouse A and electrical work take place under its current projects.
“We’ll have to throw a lot here at the engineers and construction project management people to figure this out,” Friedman said. Yet the timing means it will be that much sooner for the port to move to zero emissions for its own operations.
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