‘This is a hard issue’: Winnetka trustees give final approval to controversial IMEA extension

After more than a year of in-depth talks and heated debates, Winnetka’s Village Council, during its June 17 meeting, approved a new power sales contract and capacity purchase agreement with the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency, which has supplied the Village’s power since 1991. 

Tuesday’s nearly two-hour meeting officially put the trustees’ stamp-of-approval on a highly contested decision, which had been preceded by a nearly three-hour Village Council meeting on June 3, as The Record reported.

Although IMEA’s existing contract with the Village does not expire until Sept. 30, 2035, currently coal-dependent IMEA has asked its member communities to renew now for 2035-2055. 

On May 14, at a previous session in this series of discussions reported on by The Record, IMEA board member and the Village’s strategic development manager Brian Keys said the impetus behind the push to renew 10 years early is to allow IMEA to prepare to transition from carbon-based to renewable resources. Keys cited IMEA’s goal of “net zero” carbon emissions by 2050. 

Ongoing resident concerns 

At the latest June 17 meeting, however, several Winnetka residents expressed discontent with the process, reminiscent of concerns already expressed by residents earlier this month at that June 3 meeting and the four other meetings previously held.

“There is still a key part of due diligence that remains: You need to have an independent review of this complex contract by an experienced energy lawyer,” resident King Poor said, who was the first of the public to comment. His statement was echoed by several other residents calling for an independent review.

Poor referenced, too, IMEA’s scheduled board meeting for next week, when its members are set to consider a 60-day extension of the open season for Naperville and St. Charles. He called on Winnetka’s Village Council to seek the same extension, providing extra time for the requested added due diligence. 

Behind Naperville and St. Charles’ delay is the question of coal use and how IMEA will transition away from it. IMEA utilizes the Prairie State Coal Plant — no. 12 among the top climate polluters in America, according to an analysis conducted jointly by the Frontier Group, Environment America Research and Policy Center and U.S. PIRG Education Fund.

Among those who spoke at the meeting was Resident Ken Bayless, one of the Village Council members who voted to approve the current contract circa 2007 — a decision he calls “a personal failing” of his tenure as village trustee.

“I took some solace in the fact that our marriage to Prairie State might expire in 2035,” Bayless told the Council. “The idea of extending that relationship now to 2025 gives me chills. If the intervening years since the last IMEA contract have taught us anything, it’s this: The predictability of capital costs for coal fire plant construction, coal mine development — it’s all a crapshoot. Prairie State is the poster child. The same might be said for other forms of energy production.”

He continued, “Yet, staying married to coal will not help us to reach the right side of environmental history, and we must reach that side if we are to deliver a healthy planet to our grandchildren. At some point, someone needs to lead, someone needs to take a risk and change direction, because in the direction we’re heading, no one wins.”

In all, 11 Winnetka residents made public comments urging the Winnetka Council to postpone their decision or renounce a renewal with IMEA altogether. 

The council’s final call

Village President Robert Dearborn acknowledged residents’ concerns and emphasized the complexity of the decision for Village Council members.

“There are issues that come before this Council that are slam-dunk issues, and I know the folks out here think this is a slam-dunk issue,” Dearborn said. “This is a hard issue. This weighs very heavily to think about the current, the future, all the issues that come into play on this. As it’s been duly noted, it’s complex in all aspects.”

Village Trustee Scott Myers seconded Dearborn’s statement, underscoring the uncertainty of the circumstance and difficulties the council has faced in discerning the Village’s needs 10 or more years into the future.  

Myers said he would be in favor of a legal review by an energy attorney. 

When asked by Dearborn for clarification on if he would own the approval of the contract if IMEA does not grant an extension for a longer legal review period, Myers elected to reserve comment.

Village Trustee Robert Apatoff pushed back against Myers. He said a legal review would not require an extension and could be done within the next week — an approach with which Myers also agreed. 

“It wasn’t taken lightly,” Apatoff said of the entire review process and in defense of the due diligence done by the Village Council. “When words like ‘reckless’ and we’re ‘pro-coal’ and ‘cost is not really a consideration’ (are used), that’s a little frustrating to hear up here, to be honest with you. Nothing could be further from the trust in how we’ve gone after this.”

He added, “We took a great deal of time over the past 15 months to thoughtfully and transparently study the options and provide measured reasons and responses for these decisions. This was not a rushed decision, even if we don’t like the timing of IMEA on this and what they’ve put on our laps. There is not a trustee or staff member I’ve spoken to who does not want to get to a greener solution for our energy, for our water, for our world.”

The Village Council went into a brief closed session to review amongst themselves before voting.

Upon their return, Dearborn announced the vote would be on a slightly amended version of the ordinance with the following added recital: “Whereas, additionally, IMEA has committed to transition from a carbon-based portfolio to a net-zero generation portfolio by 2050 and to properly plan for this transition while ensuring generation resources are in place to meet future power needs. IMEA has implemented a detailed sustainability plan to achieve zero-carbon status, which requires resource planning and transitioning in the near future to secure favorable renewable energy power purchase agreements.” 

Following Dearborn’s announcement of the amendment, likely designed to emphasize the desired push toward greener energy sources, Council members voted unanimously to renew Winnetka’s contract with IMEA from 2035-2055.

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