Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture
Contacts: Sara
Bergan, Great Plains Institute, (612) 278-7153,
[log in to unmask]; Laura
Miller, Leopold Center, (515) 294-5272,
[log in to unmask]; or Laurie
Groves, Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, (515) 225-5414,
[log in to unmask]CITIZENS ASKED TO HELP SHAPE REGIONAL ENERGY PLAN
FOR NEXT 50 YEARS
STORM LAKE, Iowa -- Iowa residents are invited to
share how they would like the region’s energy economy to evolve over the next
50 years at a free dinner meeting Tuesday evening, February 13, 6 to 9 p.m. in
the Harold Walter Siebens Forum Building at Buena Vista University in Storm
Lake Iowa.
This Town Hall Meeting on our energy future is being
organized by the Great Plains Institute in cooperation with Iowa Farm Bureau
and the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. Town Hall participants
will share a meal and discuss their vision of the future of energy in small
groups gathered around specific energy options like efficiency, wind or
biomass resources. During the meal, citizens will talk about the opportunities
associated with the selected energy option. Facilitators will then work with
each small group to develop action plans for that energy
type.
Participants will also have the opportunity to weigh in on a
draft Regional Energy Transition Roadmap that is being developed by industry
executives, farm organizations and agricultural producers, state and
provincial officials, and environmental advocates.
“The roadmap is
being developed at the request of the International Legislators Forum, a
bi-partisan group of legislative leaders from Upper Midwest states and
Manitoba,” said Sara Bergan, Executive Director of the Great Plains Institute.
“Legislators are looking forward to hearing what citizens think our energy
priorities should be.” Once complete, the Roadmap will be presented to state,
national and provincial officials.
“The input of citizens from these
Town Hall Forums is vital to the legitimacy of the roadmap,” says Dave Miller,
Director of Commodity Services a the Iowa Farm Bureau and a participant in the
Great Plains Institute’s Powering the Plains program developing the roadmap.
“We’ve had an increasing number of Iowans express interest in learning
more about the economic and environmental advantages of pursuing carbon credit
and renewable energy programs. This brings everything together in one
place. That’s why we’re so pleased to help sponsor this important discussion
about the region’s energy future,” says Miller.
“With the public
awareness of and input on this roadmap as it develops, it will become a better
tool to give policymakers the right ‘compass headings’ on energy policy over
the next half century,” John Sellers, Iowa farmer and participant in the
Powering the Plains project.
For a preliminary look at the
Roadmap’s Executive Summary go to:
www.poweringtheplains.org.
The Storm Lake
meeting is the only Iowa site on a six-state tour of Wisconsin, Minnesota,
Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota and Manitoba, Canada to develop an Energy
Roadmap for the Upper Midwest that takes advantages of the region’s strengths.
The Iowa meeting is made possible in part by generous support from the Iowa
Farm Bureau and the Otto Bremer Foundation.
NO RSVP REQUIRED for the
Town Hall Meeting (Located at the Harold Walter Siebens Forum Building at
Buena Vista University). For more information contact Sara Bergan at (612)
278-7153 or
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Leopold
Center for Sustainable Agriculture
Iowa State University/209 Curtiss
Hall
Ames, IA 50011-1050
(515) 294-3711; FAX: (515) 294-9696
All news
releases also are posted on our web site: http://www.leopold.iastate.edu