Obama at Iowa Wind Turbine Plant for Earth Day

clipped from domesticfuel.com President Barack Obama was in Iowa for this Earth Day, visiting a former appliance maker that has converted to make parts for the state’s burgeoning wind energy industry. The Des Moines (IA) Register reports that the president also used the stop at the Trinity Structural Towers in Newton, formerly a Maytag appliance factory, to unveil plans to allow off-shore wind-energy production: “On this Earth Day, it is time for us to lay a new foundation for economic growth by beginning a new era of energy exploration in America,” Obama said during a stop at a plant that produces towers for wind-electric turbines. Making his first trip to Iowa as president, Obama urged Congress to pass a bill this year that puts the nation on a path to reducing its carbon pollution by 80 percent by 2050. Obama has proposed establishing a cap-and-trade system, where businesses would be granted a fixed number of credits for their emissions. Companies that use more than their share would pay more.