energy.agwired.com

The Advancing Renewable Fuels Conference in St. Louis last week received very extensive national and even international coverage. Here’s just a sampling of links to stories from reporters who were on the scene:

From the international press, Deutsche Presse-Agentur: Speaking to a meeting on renewable energy in St Louis, Missouri, Bush hailed the savings at the petrol pump for truck drivers, small businesses and average consumers.
And the BBC: US President George W Bush has welcomed falling petrol prices as “good news” but said he did not want the decline to put off work on alternative fuels.

On the national level:
Reuters correspondents Tom Doggett and Lisa Haarlander: President Bush on Thursday said that falling gasoline prices are “good news” for consumers, but said he was worried that lower pump costs would stunt development of alternative energy fuels. The article devoted a sentence to the anti-war heckler and finished off with the USDA report out Thursday that calls for a lower carry-over for corn.

UPI Energy Correspondent Krishnadev Calamur (via Monsters and Critics): Just how far along ethanol is in satisfying U.S. energy needs depends on whom you ask. This piece focuses on the back-to-back comments of ethanol entrepreneur Vinod Khosla and American Petroleum Institute president Red Cavaney.

New York Times correspondent Alexei Barrionuevo: With a tailwind of strong political support behind them, advocates for renewable fuels declared Thursday that ethanol is here to stay and issued a call for greater research and investment to solve the challenges still preventing broader use. This guy used quotes from most of the major speakers.

Associated Press: A century ago, Henry Ford’s Model T was the first flexible-fuel vehicle, running on gas, ethanol or both, and the automaker foretold the future when he said fuel could be gotten from fruit, weeds, sawdust, or anything else that could be fermented.
The story, as told by Archer Daniels Midland’s CEO Patricia Woertz, resonated with her audience at a national renewable energy conference here Wednesday. Lots of comments from various speakers in this article also.

Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau, Julie Mason: President Bush warned on Thursday that while gasoline prices are coming down, America shouldn’t get complacent about energy. This story ends with reaction from the DNC that President Bush’s energy proposals are just a “token” effort.

From the farm media – Jerilyn Johnson with Farm Futures: Bush addressed an estimated crowd of 1,500 people, including many representing the agriculture industry, at the Advancing Renewable Energy Conference Oct. 12 in St. Louis.
Marcia Zarley Taylor of Top Producer on Ag Web: President George Bush reiterated his support for renewable energy Thursday, saying it was appropriate for Americans to change their habits, no matter what price they are paying at the gas pump now.

On a more local level, Steve Kraske of the Kansas City Star: Invoking the image of America’s pioneers, President Bush on Thursday told a conference of energy entrepreneurs that the nation is moving rapidly toward independence from foreign oil.

To some, the story was the protestor, not the president – like KSDK in St. Louis: President Bush continued speaking after a protestor briefly interrupted his speech. Bush went on as a single protester shouted “Soldiers are not renewable,” and “Out of Iraq now!”

Lots, lots more under Google news searches. If you do different key words, you can come up with hundreds of different stories. I searched for “renewable, energy, st. louis,” and “renewable energy conference,” and “bush st. louis energy” and got different stuff every time. Since there were so many reporters for major outlets at the event the stories aren’t all cookie-cutter copies of each other.

Security has been really tight here for the Renewable Energy Conference, especially for speakers and media. They won’t let anyone through this restricted area unless they have a media badge and only staff are permitted to escort any other attendees to the media room for interviews. There were about 100 media registered for the conference itself, and several more local and national reporters are coming in today just for the president. This has gotten amazing coverage.

The registration fee for this event was pretty high – about $500 per person – but I can tell you it has been very well done. Not overdone, just well done. Okay, maybe the press security is a bit overdone, and the head-banging heavy metal transition music between speakers is annoying – but I have heard nothing but positive comments about the value of this conference to both attendees and the media. As several people noted, even a year ago an event like this would have barely gotten half the attendance and coverage it has recieved. And the main reason for the increased interest will be here today to repeat the line that set this industry on fire less than ten months ago – “America is addicted to oil.” I guess you could call this event group therapy to cure that addiction.

The line was long to go through security at the Advancing Renewable Energy Conference in St. Louis. President Bush is scheduled to address the crowd of more than 1500 about lunchtime. We have been informed that we will all be in “lock down” here at the convention center between 11:00 am and 1:30 pm – no one in or out.

Meanwhile, the city was also preparing for the president’s arrival this morning, setting up gates and barriers around the convention center to shut down roads for the presidential motorcade. Fun stuff.

First up on the program this morning is former CIA Director James Woolsey, talking about the importance of renewable energy for the nation’s security.