Iowa Governor Outlines Steps for Alternative Energy

ICAD Group Targeting Renewable Energy in Iowa City Area

From the Corridor Business Journal

Calling on the nation to explore the renewable energy frontier, Gov. Chet Culver today urged Congress and the Obama-Biden administration to take five steps to further develop alternative energy, create new green-collar jobs and move towards energy independence.

Mr. Culver delivered the keynote address this morning in Washington, D.C., to the Renewable Energy in America National Policy Forum sponsored by the American Council on Renewable Energy.

"There is a renewable energy frontier open before us, and we must explore it immediately," Mr. Culver said. "Doing so will help us address the climate crisis, free our country from foreign sources of energy, create millions of green-collar jobs nationwide and put us on a path toward energy independence."

The five steps Mr. Culver outlined are:

• Repair and modernize the nation's transmission system to increase capacity and better allow for energy produced in one state to be moved to areas of demand.
• Implement a five-year extension of the Wind Production Tax Credit to help establish wind energy as a permanent component of a national energy strategy.
• Establish a national Renewable Portfolio Standard, which was first established in Iowa in 1990, to increase utilities' sales of renewable energy, open new markets and encourage research and development.
• Work with automakers to produce and sell more flex-fuel vehicles, and with petroleum marketers to provide more flex-fuel pumps nationwide.
• Develop a national plan for energy independence that puts a greater emphasis on research and development, as well as energy efficiency.

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