1-26-07
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 [log in to unmask]
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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
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