Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a family farmer and strong advocate for renewable energy, today sent a letter to White House Climate Czar, Gina McCarthy, inviting her to visit Iowa and learn about the state’s continued leadership in renewable fuel production and overall sustainable energy strategy. Grassley’s request comes after McCarthy made disparaging comments about Middle America in a recent interview.
“…I was quite surprised when I read a quote recently attributed toS you in an interview with Kevin Adler. The quote that stuck out is the following, ‘We have to get the middle of the country understanding and active on climate. We have to show them what resilience looks like.’ We have heard similar sentiments for years from Washington D.C. that the middle of the country needs saving or that the middle of the country needs to learn from the East and West Coast,” Grassley wrote.
“Surely belittling folks in the middle of the country with disparaging comments is not what President Biden meant in his inaugural address. Therefore, in a show of unity, I would like to invite President Biden, yourself, other relevant cabinet officials, and White House staff working on energy and environmental issues to come to Iowa and learn.
“In your trip to Iowa previously, you expressed a willingness to learn from people in the middle of the country. It seems that another visit is in order to see the tremendous progress we have continued to make. It would be a great opportunity for the Administration to learn just how resilient the middle of the country can be,” Grassley concluded.
In 2009, Grassley invited McCarthy, who had never been to a farm before, to visit Iowa to learn about corn and soybean farming technology and see firsthand the way Iowa farmers contribute to clean energy production.
Since then, Iowa’s agriculture and energy industry has continued to expand. Iowa now ranks second in the nation for wind energy production, leads the nation with the highest wind power share and in 2019, wind turbines in Iowa generated more electricity than the state’s coalfired power plants for the first time.
Iowa is also the number one producer of corn, ethanol, biodiesel and cellulosic ethanol in the country. Recently, a comprehensive new study shows using corn ethanol in place of gasoline reduces greenhouse gas emissions by almost half with some corn ethanol in the market today achieving a 61% reduction.
Full text of the letter can be found HERE.
