Rep. Reichert Touts New Energy Economy

Speaking to about 100 people at a fundraiser for Cedar County Democrats on Saturday Night in Tipton, Rep. Nate Reichert said a new energy economy is “the greatest opportunity Iowans have had in at least two or three generations.”

The Muscatine resident, who has represented District 80 in the Iowa House since 2004, was tapped to be the chairman of the Standing Committee on Energy Policy. He wrote the first draft of the Iowa Power Fund, a four-year, $100 million effort intended to spark development of renewable energy technologies. The fund was one of Gov. Chet Culver’s top legislative priorities, although it wasn’t passed through the Legislature until late in the last session.

“We had Gov. Culver talking about how we could grow our renewable fuels industry and we can grow our renewable economy,” Reichert said. “We talked a lot about that, but one of the big pieces that I felt was very important with this was that we need to have a plan to make our energy independent by the year 2025 in Iowa.”

While the goal is lofty and the plan is not yet written, Reichert says it is in process.

“The plan must include things that we as individual citizens can do,” he said. “How can we make an impact on this equation? How can we make our carbon footprint a little smaller? How can we figure out a way to include more renewable fuels in our day-to-day lives?”

The cheapest source of energy, according to Reichert, is energy that is not used. “It’s conservation,” he said. “It’s about changing light bulbs and making things more efficient.”

Reichert said he’s happy to be a part of those conservation efforts through his work as chairman of the Energy Efficiency Interim Committee, which is studying ways to make the Iowa economy more efficient.

“The [new energy economy] could be the driving force for our economic growth for decades to come,” he said.

He pointed to new businesses in Iowa such as the plant in Keokuk that provides manufacturing for wind turbines as part of the way new energy will drive the Iowa economy.

“I think we are going to be seeing more of those types of announcements as we get the Power Fund up and going and we start bringing the new energy economy jobs into Iowa,” he said. “So, not only can we be energy independent by 2025, but we can be the world’s leader in making that happen. We will not only be using that type of energy, but we will be creating and designing it.”

When Iowa begins to bring in those “good jobs,” Reichert said the state will then be able to keep younger people here because they will be able to “build a life and a family around it.”

Reichert continues to serve as an ex-officio member of the Iowa Power Fund Board of Directors. Other legislative ex-officio members are Sen. Roger Stewart, D-Preston; Sen. Hubert Houser, R-Carson; and Rep. Chuck Soderburg, R-LeMars. Gregory Geoffroy, Kent Henning and Mary Jo Dolan will also serve as ex-officio members, representing Iowa’s institutions of higher learning.

Voting board members are Chairman Fred S. Hubbell of Des Moines, Lucy Norton of Clive, Glenn Cannon of Waverly, Peter Hemken of Des Moines, Carrie LaSeur of Mt. Vernon, Patricia Higby of Cedar Falls and Thomas Wind, of Fairfield. Iowa Department of Economic Development director Mike Tramontina, Department of Natural Resources Director Rich Leopold and Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey also have a voting seat at the table.

When the legislation and subsequent appropriations were passed last spring, a new Office of Energy Independence was created. Roya Stanley, who had been active for more than two decades in the fields of renewable energy and energy efficiency, was hired as Iowa’s director of that office in late summer.