COLUMBIA, MO -- U.S. Senator Kit Bond today held a roundtable with local and state officials; University, Chamber of Commerce, and agriculture-industry representatives; and biomass experts on how to jump-start a new clean-energy industry and create much needed jobs in Missouri.
“These are tough times,” said Bond. “In an economy with a stubborn, nearly 10% unemployment rate, the million-dollar question we all have these days is “How can we create jobs?” And how can we create a thriving alternative energy industry?”
Bond, one of the strongest champions for creating a new biomass industry in Missouri, stressed that in addition to Missouri’s natural resources, including; timber, timber waste, scrub timber, plant waste, corn stover and grass, the State is home to some of the foremost researchers in clean-burning bio-mass at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Also, the State of Missouri’s Department of Agriculture is on the cutting edge in supporting burgeoning Bio-mass technology – all making Missouri uniquely positioned to become a biomass center.
Earlier this year, Bond threw his support behind the recruitment of a $1.6 billion data center to Columbia, Missouri, which would run on power generated from clean-burning Missouri biomass. This new facility would make the new clean-energy industry in Missouri a reality while creating much needed jobs along the way.
“These data centers would create thousands of jobs,” said Bond. “We have a great opportunity to succeed here – not for our own sake but for the lasting employment opportunities we can help create. I want to secure these data centers for Missouri – for what they can do now, and in the future.”
Bond has long worked along with state and local leaders to create a biotech corridor that stretches from mid-Missouri west to Kansas City and east to St. Louis. Recently Bond cosponsored a bill to create tax incentives for the use of biomass in the production of thermal energy, supported multiyear extensions of both the ethanol and biodiesel tax credits, and has attacked overreaching EPA restrictions that would destroy Missouri’s growing biomass industry.
Source: Sen. Bond
“These are tough times,” said Bond. “In an economy with a stubborn, nearly 10% unemployment rate, the million-dollar question we all have these days is “How can we create jobs?” And how can we create a thriving alternative energy industry?”
Bond, one of the strongest champions for creating a new biomass industry in Missouri, stressed that in addition to Missouri’s natural resources, including; timber, timber waste, scrub timber, plant waste, corn stover and grass, the State is home to some of the foremost researchers in clean-burning bio-mass at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Also, the State of Missouri’s Department of Agriculture is on the cutting edge in supporting burgeoning Bio-mass technology – all making Missouri uniquely positioned to become a biomass center.
Earlier this year, Bond threw his support behind the recruitment of a $1.6 billion data center to Columbia, Missouri, which would run on power generated from clean-burning Missouri biomass. This new facility would make the new clean-energy industry in Missouri a reality while creating much needed jobs along the way.
“These data centers would create thousands of jobs,” said Bond. “We have a great opportunity to succeed here – not for our own sake but for the lasting employment opportunities we can help create. I want to secure these data centers for Missouri – for what they can do now, and in the future.”
Bond has long worked along with state and local leaders to create a biotech corridor that stretches from mid-Missouri west to Kansas City and east to St. Louis. Recently Bond cosponsored a bill to create tax incentives for the use of biomass in the production of thermal energy, supported multiyear extensions of both the ethanol and biodiesel tax credits, and has attacked overreaching EPA restrictions that would destroy Missouri’s growing biomass industry.
Source: Sen. Bond
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