April 12, 2024

Following Green Energy-Focused Visit in Europe, Duckworth Discusses Future Waste Reduction Energy Production Technology in Rockford

 

[ROCKFORD, IL] – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today met with Rockford government and labor leaders to discuss a proposed waste-to-energy facility in Rockford. This meeting follows Duckworth’s official visit to Sweden and The Netherlands earlier this year where she met with industry and government leaders who are pioneering clean waste-to-energy technology, learning more about this technology and how it can be replicated in Illinois. As a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, one of Duckworth’s top priorities has been advocating for Illinois with our allies and partners abroad, with her most recent official visit focused on bringing green energy best-practices and investments back to our state to help create good-paying green jobs while improving environmental justice, reducing waste, expanding energy supplies and helping strengthen businesses. Photos from today’s meeting are available on the Senator’s website.

“The Netherlands and Sweden have a lot to teach the world about recycling, waste management, emissions and energy production, and I was able to see firsthand earlier this year some of the innovation and practices their organizations are helping pioneer,” Duckworth said. “Illinois is a world leader in renewable energy and biofuels, and I’m committed to working to bring more innovative technologies and green energy projects back home. I’m going to keep doing what I can to push for more investments like this that help provide cleaner, lower-cost energy alternatives while shielding our most disadvantaged communities from the devastating impacts of our climate crisis and from harmful emissions and waste.”

During her February trip to Sweden and The Netherlands, she toured sites and met with senior officials from multiple waste management, recycling and energy businesses to learn more about the technologies and practices they are developing that could help tackle the climate crisis. As the climate crisis, landfill waste, emissions and plastic pollution continue to disproportionately impact low-income and communities of color, Duckworth is committed to finding innovative solutions to help the United States with their clean energy transition, curbing climate change as well as building on her work supporting environmental justice communities and shifting our country away from fossil fuels. Illinois is a diverse energy state and is a net energy exporter, ranked first among all Midwest states in cleaner energy capacity. Illinois is the nation’s largest producer of nuclear energy and fifth in the nation for wind energy capacity. Illinois is also one of the largest producers of biofuels and biofuels feedstock, which includes Sustainable Aviation Fuel.

Duckworth is a proven leader on strengthening our relations with international partners while successfully securing significant international investments in Illinois. Last year she traveled to The United Kingdom and Romania, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, as well as Japan to meet with government, trade and economic leaders and corporate and business officials to highlight how Illinois is uniquely positioned for greater investment and increased exports with international partners. Following her last trip, Japan announced a regulatory change that will lead to an increase in imports from U.S. biofuel producers, supporting our farmers and growing Illinois’s economy. 

In 2022, she also traveled to South Korea and Taiwan where she met with business, government and trade leaders, which helped lead to a joint venture between Illinois’s ADM and South Korea’s LG Chem, as well as a commitment from Taiwan to purchase an estimated $2.6 billion of our Illinois’s corn and soybeans.

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