Two years ago Friday, Governor Bruce Rauner made a lot of friends in northwest Illinois when he saved hundreds of jobs at the Cordova Nuclear Plant. At Riverdale High School in Port Byron, he signed the Future Energy Jobs Bill, designed to encourage Exelon to keep the plant open.
In the gym filled with Cordova employees, local residents, cheerleaders, and a pep band, he said the bi-partisan bill showed what state leaders could do, and should do, to help the state.
"Nothing more important than protecting and growing good paying jobs, not minimum wage jobs, but good paying jobs with a good future. That's what this bill does - protect and grow good paying jobs for the people of Illinois."
The bill also protected another Exelon nuclear plant, in Clinton in central Illinois. The company had threatened to close them, saying they were un-profitable, unless the state approved subsidies and other help.
The bill helped retain 800 jobs at Cordova, and 700 at Clinton.
