Ald. Maria Hadden, 49th, during a Chicago City Council meeting on Jan. 24, 2024. Hadden, chair of Environment Committee, is sponsoring an ordinance that sets emission standards strict enough to all but rule out natural gas use in most new buildings. As an ordinance to effectively ban gas power in new Chicago buildings faced questions at the City Council Wednesday, the battle lines over the climate change-focused legislation came into clearer focus.
Chicago’s “built environment” accounts for 70% of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change, Department of Environment Commissioner Angela Tovar told aldermen. Ald. Gilbert Villegas, 36th, had called for the subject matter hearing when the so-called Clean And Affordable Buildings ordinance was proposed in January. At the time, he warned Environmental Committee chair Hadden to not “slam through” the proposal.
The first sign of the heated fight appeared Wednesday morning in the gallery, where spectators representing both sides filled nearly every seat at the start of the meeting that stretched throughout the day. City officials, representatives of Commonwealth Edison and Peoples Gas, and members of the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition answered questions.
As city leaders answered questions, Ald. Raymond Lopez, 15th, argued the gas workers’ union had been unfairly excluded from conversations planning the ordinance over the last two years, eliciting claps from two dozen men seated together in the public gallery.