Obama talks renewable energy in Macon
The speech was part of a tour of several small towns.
Published April 28, 2010, last updated 6:31 p.m., Nov. 13, 2010
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President Barack Obama addresses an audience Wednesday at the POET Biorefining, a ethanol producing plant in Macon. The President was given a tour of the plant by its workers and also toured a local farm nearby as part of his tour of the Midwest this week.
MACON — President Barack Obama stressed the importance of renewable energy and discussed the economy in an appearance at the POET biorefinery Wednesday in Macon.
“There’s a lot that towns here in the heartland, here in Middle America, can teach the rest of the country,” Obama said to a crowd of about 100 invited guests. “There’s certainly a lot that you can share with Washington, including some common sense.”
The trip is part of the president's White House to Main Street Tour. Obama spoke in Macon before going to Quincy, Ill., later Wednesday.
In his speech, Obama said the U.S. should reduce its dependence on foreign oil. He said other countries are winning the race in developing renewable energy industries.
“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,” he said.
Before speaking to the crowd, Obama toured the facility, which opened 10 years ago this week. General Manager Steve Burnett led the tour and said Obama was supportive of the plant.
“He’s very personable,” Burnett said. “He made me and my boys, who got to meet him on the tour, extremely comfortable.”
Obama said energy legislation has been at the top of his administration’s agenda and wants America to triple its biofuel production in the next 12 years.
“Potentially, we can have facilities producing cellulosic (ethanol) right here, right next to the existing plant and create overall energy efficiencies that we just have not seen before, and effectively compete with biofeuls from any place in the world,” Obama said about the plant’s potential.
Cellulosic ethanol is a fuel made from wood, grass and other parts of a plant. Cellulose, a fibrous plant part, has to be pretreated before it’s turned into fuel, POET spokesman Nathan Schock said. He said the Macon plant would have that capability in the future.
Although Republican John McCain won Macon County by 61 percent in the 2008 election, there were few protesters at Obama’s Wednesday speech.
Don Sweeney, a partially active Tea Party member, said there was a protest Tuesday, but few people were able to attend Wednesday. As he waited for the presidential motorcade, he said Obama’s policies didn’t satisfy him.
“He forced health care down our throats,” Sweeney said. “If the socialized medicine is so good, why do people in those countries come to the U.S. for health care? Because they can’t get it there because of their age or condition.”
Obama’s speech was closed to the public, so people gathered on a small ridge overlooking the plant’s flag-lined driveway to get a glimpse of the president. Macon resident William Harris was disappointed the speech was closed.
“I got my butt up out of bed at 5 in the morning on Election Day to cast my vote," said Harris, who helped build the POET plant. "I’d like to be close enough I get to shake his hand.”
Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan attended the event, as did Gov. Jay Nixon and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.
Carnahan, the Democratic candidate running to succeed retiring Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., said she still works on her family’s farm and understands the economic difficulties small towns like Macon face.
“It’s created jobs in this part of the state,” she said about the plant. “We need to figure out how to continue to do that.”
Sweeney said if he’s still not happy with leaders in Washington, he and other Tea Party members would show it in the elections.
“There’s a legal way,” he said. “In November, a bunch of congressmen and senators are up for re-election. If we don’t like their views, we’ll roll them out.”
