Obama talks up wind power, green jobs

NEWTON, Iowa — Marking Earth Day with a pitch for his energy plan, President Barack Obama on Wednesday called for a "new era of energy exploration in America" and argued that his proposal would help the economy and the environment at once.

"The choice we face is not between saving our environment and saving our economy — it's a choice between prosperity and decline," Obama said in his first post-election trip to Iowa, the state that launched him toward the White House. "The nation that leads the world in creating new sources of clean energy will be the nation that leads the 21st century global economy."

But Obama's promise of preserving natural resources and jump-starting the economy ran smack into the reality of this economically struggling town about 30 miles east of Des Moines. The wind energy plant where he spoke, and received a tour beforehand, is a shadow of what it replaced — a Maytag Corp. appliances plant that built washers, dryers and refrigerators.

It employed some 4,000 in a town of 16,000 residents in jobs that paid about $30,000 to $40,000 a year.

Trinity Structural Towers has roughly 90 people working at the old Maytag site, a number that is expected to grow to about 140. Mark Stiles, a senior vice president at Trinity, which builds the towers that support wind turbines, said workers at his factory make about $17 an hour, plus benefits.

"This is a piece of the recovery, but we think it's a nice piece," Stiles said.

Newton Mayor Chaz Allen said many are still trying to recover after the loss of Maytag in 2007.

"You know, 115 years with one company was a great thing, but it's a different world now," Allen said. "Our economy has to be diverse and we can't put all of our eggs in one basket."

Obama was at the plant to highlight his energy proposal that has slowed on Capitol Hill. Skeptical Republicans and some Democrats from coal-producing states complain that it will increase costs for consumers, send jobs overseas and hurt businesses.

Obama said the nation needs more domestic production of oil and natural gas in the short term. But "the bulk of our efforts," he said, must focus on transitioning the U.S. to more renewable energy.

He pushed personal responsibility, calling on every American to replace one incandescent light bulb with one compact fluorescent. The president also said the leaders of the world's major economies will meet next week to discuss the energy crisis.

For his remarks, Obama chose Iowa, second only to Texas in installed wind capacity.