Obama's plan looks offshore for energy

[Wickerman]

Nice work for the president to travel to Newton, Iowa for earth day. :patriot:

Newton, where we have family, was hard hit with the loss of Maytag. In the last couple of years the decline has been noticeable in our infrequent visits. While the wind plants aren't a panacea to Newton's problems its a start and as an added bonus the power is clean and one piece of the puzzle for improving the climate.



Newton, Ia. - President Barack Obama, in Iowa Wednesday, announced plans to allow offshore wind energy production, a step that economic development officials said could spur the state's burgeoning renewable energy industry.

Speaking at a Newton wind tower plant, Obama said new Department of Interior rules would clear the way for the first wind turbines to be erected off the Atlantic coast.

"We are establishing a program to authorize - for the first time - the leasing of federal waters for projects to generate electricity from wind as well as from ocean currents and other renewable sources," Obama said to about 200 workers at Newton's Trinity Structural Towers and public officials.

--snip--
"We can hand over the jobs of the 21st century to our competitors, or we can confront what countries in Europe and Asia have already recognized as both a challenge and an opportunity: The nation that leads the world in creating new energy sources will be the nation that leads the 21st-century global economy," Obama said.

His appearance at the former Maytag appliance plant, where Trinity assembles wind turbine towers, underscored that message. About 30 of the roughly 90 employees at Trinity's Newton plant are former Maytag workers. The appliance plant closed in 2006 after the longtime Iowa company was sold to Whirlpool, idling roughly 1,800 workers.

--more at link--

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090423/NEWS/904230393