Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Building Iowa’s Economic Future
I kicked off the second part of my August “Building Iowa’s Future tour” in Sioux City today by taking a tour of the local Youthbuild site. Youthbuild is a phenomenal program that helps students who have faced hardships and setbacks get back on track. I have long said that in our society we must provide a ladder of opportunity for people. Sometimes young people might miss a rung or two, but that’s where Youthbuild comes in, providing the necessary training to get these students on a proven career path.
While there, I talked with program leaders and was especially pleased to talk to a group of students involved with the program. All of the students told me that had it not been for Youthbuild, they would have never even considered attending college, or even graduating high school.
As part of the program, all students are required to learn basic construction. Alex Hansen, an 18-year-old student in the program, gave me a tour of a home under construction by students, which will eventually be given to a family in need. I am extremely pleased we were able to recently double the funding for this program at the federal level to establish even more centers like this one in Sioux City.
Later that day, as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, I held a field hearing in Sioux City to explore the expanding role of biofuels in America. I was pleased to be joined at the hearing by my good friend Senator Thune of South Dakota, showing that this is an issue with strong bipartisan support. We must reduce our dependence on foreign, dirty sources of energy and focus on the production and use of renewable, homegrown sources, such as biofuels.
At the hearing, we talked to six area witnesses regarding the future of biofuels in our country. I was pleased to once again hear that there is significant potential to grow our biofuels industry in Iowa and across the nation, while at the same time reducing pollution and not harming our nation’s food supply. I plan to continue to fight in the Senate for measures that will help to increase biofuel demand and production.
I capped off my day by attending the grand opening of the Iowa Central Biotechnology and Bioscience Center at Iowa Central Community College’s Fort Dodge Campus to see first-hand how this facility will help grow Iowa’s biotech/bioscience sector.
Iowa Central President Dr. Dan Kinney kicked off a great event and Jim Kersten, Associate Vice President at the College, really saw this through to completion. This project is truly a federal-state partnership, so I was glad that Congressman Tom Latham, Lt. Governor Patty Judge, State Senator Jack Kibbie and State Representatives Helen Miller and Dave Tjepkes were all on hand to tour the new facilities and see how this growing sector will contribute to Iowa’s economic future
Don Heck, Iowa Central instructor and manager of the biofuels lab, gave me a tour of the independent fuel testing laboratory that will be located within this building. This initiative is right up my alley – it combines community college resources with a renewable energy educated workforce. The lab will not primarily be used as a “learning lab,” however, but instead it will be a service available to private refineries that need a variety of necessary tests to either earn or retain state certification for selling refined biofuels in Iowa. Even though the testing lab is not part of the overall biofuels curriculum, it does have its applications in drawing more ag science-oriented students into the industry, elevating Iowa Central as a leader in health care and biotechnology-based education for Iowans of all ages.
