President Obama to head to Iowa for Earth Day

[steven johnson]

President Obama is gently nudging the US toward the reality of the 22nd century -- for our grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Not exactly the Republican agenda.

President Barack Obama is going on the road to pitch his energy plan — as well as environmentally friendly jobs production — in a hard-hit Iowa town, while administration officials make a similar push back in Washington.
The White House's Earth Day message comes as Obama has watched his energy legislation slow in Congress. Obama's Environmental Protection Agency chief and energy and transportation secretaries all were scheduled to testify before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Wednesday with themes similar to Obama, who planned a swift visit to economically struggling Newton, Iowa.

White House aides said the president would highlight his plans to create jobs and protect the environment. He planned to tour — then tout — Newton's Trinity Structural Towers wind energy plant as a model for job creation and energy production in a town whose biggest employer was sold and then stopped operations.

Newton's Maytag Corp. appliances plant closed in 2007, costing the small city hundreds of jobs. But a year later, the state announced that Trinity Structural Towers would build a $21 million factory on the former Maytag site and employ about 140 workers, in exchange for business incentives and tax breaks.
Obama's energy plan would drive more investments to companies such as Trinity, which builds the towers that support wind turbines. White House officials said that beyond the boost to the economy that such investment would bring, families also would benefit eventually from lower energy costs.


To that end, the administration's economic stimulus plan included some $5 billion for low-income weatherization programs and $2 billion for electric car research. Another $500 million was set aside to train workers for "green jobs," such as those at Trinity Structural Towers.
White House environmental advisers also say the costs of dealing with climate change can be reduced dramatically by adopting programs that will spur energy efficiency and wider use of non-fossil energy such as wind, solar and biofuels.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jcXm7Y1YShsFS99RhrKxnWuoZ38QD97NH03O2

[Jennicut]

1. My kids are excited for Earth Day. They are 3 and 4.

We are going to be planting some trees today if the weather holds up. I am so glad the Prez is actively promoting it today. Wonder what Shrub ever did for Earth Day? Never mind, I don't want to know.