April 30, 2010
President Obama Visits POET Missouri Ethanol Plant (Hoosier Ag Today)
President Obama touted the promise of biofuels but made no mention of corn ethanol or E15 during a stop at an ethanol plant in northern Missouri. The President spent over thirty minutes touring the Poet Biorefinery in Macon, which on an annual basis turns 16 million bushels of corn into 46 million gallons of ethanol, 140,000 tons of DDGS, and 94,000 tons of carbon dioxide which is sold to food and beverage makers.
Mr. Obama told plant employees that ethanol is an important of a clean energy future and a strong rural economy. “So there shouldn’t be any doubt that renewable, home grown fuels are a key part of our strategy for a clean energy future, a future of new industries, new jobs in towns like Macon, and new independence.”
The President noted that the recovery act included $800 million in funding for ethanol fuel infrastructure, biorefinery construction, and advance biofuels, to help reach the nation’s goal of tripling biofuels production by 2022. “I want us to be first in wind power, first in solar power, and I want us to be first when it comes to biodiesel and the technologies that are being developed in places like Poet.”
Gary Marshall, CEO of the Missouri Corn Growers Association was in the midst of things when President Obama visited the plant, and he says the President’s visit was a fantastic opportunity for Agriculture, "primarily because it’s the first time since he’s been sitting as President that he has toured an ethanol plant. This is corn based ethanol plant in Missouri, so I think it bodes very well for the future of the corn based ethanol industry in this country."
Marshall said ethanol is a bipartisan product. But, having the President on board could really drive a lot of the issues being worked on at the national level, “whether it’s redoing the tax credits for the ethanol, whether it’s E15, which we think we need to go to because we’re maxed out on the blend wall, or even moving corn based ethanol forward as and advanced biofuels. All of those things are extremely important to the industry and this just kind of kicks of that entire effort for us."
Following the Poet visit Wednesday, the President’s.....
