Obama Reaffirms Goal of Tripling Ethanol Production

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Friday, 07 May 2010 15:42

Macon, Missouri, May 2010 – The President of the United States visited folks living and working in Iowa, Missouri and Illinois during the final week of April. On the second day of that visit, Barack Obama reaffirmed his administration’s goal of tripling U.S. ethanol production over the next 12 years, a step he said would make the U.S. less dependent on foreign oil. He made this declaration after touring the POET Biorefining plant in this northern Missouri town. The ethanol industry has suffered during the down economy, but is buoyed by the administration’s focus, and hopeful the addition of federal initiatives will bring about an eventual full recovery. During his three-state visit, the President made several stops, speaking inside barns, visiting a farm family while seated at their kitchen table, and sampling local restaurant food. He also hailed the recently enacted health care overhaul and called for greater investments in renewable energy and in education that can lead to new and better jobs. Obama is not on the ballot in November, but many of his fellow Democrats will face a tough battle this fall, brought on to a degree by the public's wariness of his administration’s handling of the economy. Pundits have indicated the president and Democratic lawmakers are painting those on the opposite side of the aisle as obstructionists who stand on the side of Wall Street bankers, while ignoring middle-class America. Obama's domestic trips often last just a few hours, but this one has a more leisurely feel. On a ride along U.S. Route 36 in Missouri that lasted nearly two hours — an unusually long time for a president to be on the road — students poured into parking lots and residents brought out lawn chairs and American flags to watch the motorcade pass by. In frequent stops along the way, the President visited at the 1,000-acre beef, hog and corn farm run by Lowell Schachtsiek of Palmyra, Missouri. The president sat at the kitchen table with the Schachtsiek family, discussing issues that affect farmers, especially health care. While speaking at the POET plant in Macon, Obama declared he wanted to be “first when it comes to biofuels” and said that renewable energy, including ethanol, wind and solar power, should save or create 700,000 jobs by the end of 2012. SOURCE: Various < Prev   Next >