MACON, MO. — Speaking before a crowd of about 200 at a POET ethanol plant in Macon, President Barack Obama on April 28 said he wants the United States to be first in wind power, solar power and biofuels.

“We began early last year by making the largest investment in clean energy in our nation’s history,” President Obama said of the $800 million in funding put forth for ethanol fueling infrastructure, biorefinery construction and advanced biofuels research as part of the Recovery Act. “It’s an investment that we expect will create or save up to 700,000 jobs across America by the end of 2012.”

President Obama noted that after two hard years the economy is growing again, in part due to the efforts of companies like POET who are contributing to the nation’s clean energy future. The POET plant in Macon produced its first ethanol in 2000 and today purchases 16 million bus of corn to produce 46 million gallons of ethanol.