Grassley touts Iowa’s energy industry in letter to Biden, McCarthy

IARN — Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he finds recent comments from White House Climate Czar Gina McCarthy to be “disturbing.”

In his weekly press conference call with farm reporters Tuesday morning, Senator Grassley said he was surprised when he read a quote recently attributed to McCarthy about Middle America.

“Last week, she made this disturbing comment,” Grassley said. “Quote, ‘We have to get the middle of the country understanding and active on climate. We have to show them what resilience looks like.’ By Middle America, I don’t know whether she means what we would call in Iowa the Midwest states, or whether she means everything in this country except for the West Coast and East Coast. Either way, it’s kind of a disturbing question that we have to be educated about global warming.”

Grassley, a strong advocate for renewable energy, has sent a letter to McCarthy and President Biden inviting them to visit Iowa and learn about the state’s continued leadership in renewable fuel production and overall sustainable energy strategy.

“I think Iowans know a thing or two about resilience,” Grassley said. “So, I intend to invite Mrs. McCarthy to see it for herself. This isn’t the first time I offered her help to see the Midwest perspective. Twelve years ago when she was leading EPA, I invited Mrs. McCarthy to Iowa to see American agriculture from the point of view of a family farmer. When she visited, she had the opportunity to have a close up view of advances in the areas of agriculture and biofuels. As we all know, in the 12 years since her visit, Iowa has done even more to lead the nation in both biofuels and wind production.”

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 U.S.

Full text of the letter can be found HERE.

Story courtesy of the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network

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