From The Daily Yonder
Agriculture and Energy Secretaries Tom Vilsack and Steven Chu write about the benefits of energy independence for rural America:
Last month, President Obama outlined a broad energy security plan designed to end America’s dangerous dependence on foreign oil. As the President noted, this is about strengthening national security, but it’s also about strengthening America’s economic security.
Rural communities – which have been hardest hit by job losses for decades – will perhaps have the most to gain from the transition to a clean energy economy. For example, the economic stimulus bill signed by the President last year has already doubled the pace of investment in wind turbines, creating thousands of construction jobs in rural America as wind farms come online across the country.
There is also an enormous opportunity for rural America as we dramatically increase the use of biofuels, ranging from corn ethanol to promising new technologies like cellulosic ethanol and other even more advanced forms of biofuel.
Our goal is to more than triple America’s biofuel production in the next twelve years, cutting oil imports by $41 billion. Instead of sending that $41 billion overseas, we can invest it right here in America. Instead of depending on oil fields in other countries, we’ll depend on farm fields in America’s heartland.
This is an ambitious target – 36 billion gallons by 2022 – and it will mean a growing market for agricultural producers. We will build on the tremendous growth over the past few years in the production of corn based ethanol and soy based biodiesel, fuels that already play a valuable role in reducing oil imports.
Kate Gabrielle
Moving forward, these corn and soy based fuels will continue to provide a source of wealth creation for rural communities. In addition, we are developing new forms of biofuel that will create an even brighter future and a bigger role for rural America.
Read full article at:
http://www.dailyyonder.com/when-secretaries-speak-rurals-role-energy/2010/05/28/2769
