Report on Rural America

The White House Rural Economic Forum is just one part of a series of more than 100 events held across the country this summer with senior Administration officials to advance the Council’s objectives.  Here are just some of the past and upcoming travel and events related to the White House Rural Council:

ALASKA

HHS:  On August 29, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will travel to Alaska, where she will visit several remote towns and villages to highlight the rural health and human services needs of tribal populations. The Secretary’s Alaska visit includes stops in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Anaktuvuk Pass, Barrow, and Tanana.

DOI: From August 6-13, Secretary Kenneth Salazar traveled to Alaska for a series of meetings, roundtables with business and Native leaders, and tours of key sites pertaining to energy, conservation, and Native Alaskan issues. In Anchorage, Secretary Salazar met with business leaders in Anchorage to discuss the need for safe and responsible development of Alaska’s energy resources. In Fairbanks, Secretary Salazar toured the Bureau of Land Management Alaska Fire Service firefighting facilities with Sens. Murkowski and Reed.  In Alaska’s North Slope region, Secretary Salazar visited an Indian Health Services funded hospital currently under construction in Barrow – the northernmost community in the United States – as well as the Denali National Park, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

CALIFORNIA:

USTR: On August 18, Ambassador Ron Kirk will tour the processing facilities of Blue Diamond Growers, located in downtown Sacramento.  There he will observe each step of almond processing from delivery to shipping.  Now 101 years old, Blue Diamond is the world’s largest and most respected almond processing and marketing cooperative.  Blue Diamond’s membership includes approximately 3,000 California almond producers, who grow 1.5 billion pounds of almonds, valued at $2 billion, every year.   California growers produce more than 80 percent of the total world almond supply, and nearly 70 percent of the almonds processed by Blue Diamond are marketed and sold to customers in over 90 countries.  Following the tour, Ambassador Kirk will participate in a roundtable discussion with California Secretary of Agriculture Karen Ross and California agriculture industry leaders. 

FLORIDA:

USDA: On August 11, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will tour the INEOS New Planet BioEnergy facility in Vero Beach, Florida.  The facility is receiving a loan guarantee from USDA Rural Development to help build and operate a biorefinery capable of producing 8 million gallons per year of cellulosic ethanol and 6 megawatts of electricity.  While at INEOS, the Secretary will announce a series of joint USDA and Department of Energy grants to spur research into improving the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of growing biofuel and bioenergy crops.