It’s so hard to neatly summarize the year that was 2025. It was the year that our federal government was largely handed over to the fossil fuel industry, resulting in unprecedented attacks on our environmental safeguards and public lands. Our nation’s “leaders” now seek to divide us. We saw targeted attacks on our neighbors based on the color of their skin, and the scientists and other professionals who protect our Great Lakes, public health, and enforce the law against polluters have come under scrutiny.
And while we all live in this country, at the same time, here in Illinois we are fighting for a very different future.
A basic law of science holds that every action has an equal and opposite reaction, and 2025 gave us hope that we can make that happen here in our Prairie State. Here’s a few highlights of what we’ve been able to accomplish, even against these unprecedented federal headwinds:
A 1-2 Punch For Deep Cuts In Climate Pollution From Power and Transportation
In one day this fall, we and our Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition partners won two historic victories for climate on the final day of the Illinois legislative session when the General Assembly passed bold legislation to fix and fund public transit. The Northern Illinois Transit Authority Act provides stable funding for reliable, safe transit service to downstate and the Chicago region. In the years to come we will see new train and bus service, and safer, cleaner rides that give people affordable alternatives to driving alone. The transportation sector is Illinois’ largest source of carbon emissions, and this legislation will help us lower those emissions by giving people more options outside of driving.
On the same day, we passed the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act to address rising electric bills by adding more wind, solar, and batteries to our power grid, which will help address the power crunch caused by massive new data centers coming for our electric supply. This will help ensure Illinois meets the 100% clean energy goal we set in 2021, even while Trump and his fossil fuel cronies repealed America’s pro-renewable energy policies.
Holding Trump Tower Chicago Accountable for Clean Water Act Violations
When our clean water team discovered that Chicago’s Trump Tower cut corners and violated the Clean Water Act, jeopardizing recovering fish populations in the Chicago River, we teamed up with Friends of the Chicago River to seek justice. In June announced the largest Clean Water Act penalty in Illinois history, that will require Trump Tower to upgrade its river protection equipment, and fund new habitat restoration projects to continue the river’s ecological recovery.
New Protections for Illinois’ Shawnee National Forest
While the Trump administration keeps looking for ways to allow exploitation of our public lands, we teamed up with Senator Dick Durbin to strengthen protections for three key areas of Illinois’ Shawnee National Forest. The Shawnee National Forest Conservation Act of 2025 would establish the Camp Burke Branch, Camp Hutchins, and Ripple Hollow Special Management Areas, protecting them from any commercial extraction activity while allowing for active management of these natural areas, and establish a new Wilderness Area within Camp Hutchins. The proposal received bipartisan support in passing the Senate Agriculture Committee and we’re hopeful it can become law in 2026.
Protecting Central Illinois Drinking Water From Carbon Pollution
Many companies have targeted central Illinois for carbon capture and sequestration projects. Someday, this unproven technology may prove to be a solution for hard to decarbonize heavy industries, but injecting carbon waste deep underground also poses risks, especially to drinking water. Over 1 million Illinoisans depend on the Mahomet Aquifer as their sole source of drinking water, and we worked to pass legislation banning the practice of injecting carbon through and under the Mahomet to protect this vital groundwater resource.
Solidarity With Those Under Attack
New threats brought new and strengthened alliances with progressive partners as we raised our voices to protect our neighbors and public servants from the harm and hate in Trump’s agenda. From standing with EPA scientists and other professionals losing their jobs and with our coalition partners in Illinois’ immigrant communities, to joining partners in organizing events like the #NoKings and #HandsOffChicago mass mobilizations, we are building power to resist attacks on our democracy and our future, and for Illinois to chart a different course.
As we take a pause at the end of all that was 2025, we know things for our country may get worse before they get better. But these big Illinois wins are proof that even in the worst of times, bold ideas built in partnership with impacted communities, and backed by powerful grassroots organizing, can still do great things in our democracy, and we are here for it.