PEORIA, ILLINOIS (March 11, 2024) — Local State Senator Dave Koehler is leading the push in Springfield for legislation that will increase prices at the gas pump in our area and across Illinois.
Sen Koehler is the chief sponsor for Senate Bill 1556, which mandates two state regulators — the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) and the Illinois Pollution Control Board — to establish a “clean transportation standard” and reduce the use of carbon-based fuels by Illinois drivers on our roads.
The two agencies would assign state-mandated “deficits” to fossil fuels like gasoline and diesel, which for consumers means they will pay more every time they put those products in their vehicles.
The Illinois Fuel and Retail Association (IFRA), on behalf of more than 4,000 gas stations, convenience stores, and truck stops across Illinois who serve millions of customers, is standing up to strongly oppose the proposal.
“Our member stores in Illinois have had enough, and our customers have had enough,” said Josh Sharp, IFRA’s CEO. “Illinois doubled the gas tax in 2019 and consistently raised it every year since then, with two increases in 2022. Federal data shows Illinois topped California for the highest taxes on gas in the country last year. And even worse, this legislation would do nothing to fix our roads and bridges. It simply will punish drivers and put more costs on consumers at the pump that they cannot afford.”
The proposed legislation gives the state regulators authority to decide how the fossil fuel “deficits” work, how much they will cost, and how any phase-out processes might be developed. Similar clean-transportation standards, or low-carbon fuel standards, have been a disaster for fuel consumers in other states.
In Oregon, clean-fuel mandates added 7 cents to a gallon of gas in 2022. Washington expects its per-gallon cost to soar to 39 cents a gallon in 2034. The average cost of a gallon of gas in California is now $4.87 per gallon — precisely because of policies like this.
Sharp said as the Governor and legislators push to end “regressive” policies such as the state’s grocery tax, adding such significant costs at the gas pump just trades one set of headaches for another for working families.
“Illinois cannot control geopolitical strife, OPEC export rules, economic pressures, or other global policies and factors that largely drive the costs we pay at the pump,” Sharp said. “But we can do our part by rejecting policies out of Springfield that artificially and needlessly cause consumers more pain every time they fill up. We call on Sen Koehler to drop this idea and if he won’t, for his colleagues in the Illinois House and Senate to vote ‘No’ and stand with drivers who need a break.”
