Secretary Vilsack and Secretary Chu discuss green jobs in Virginia

Secretary Vilsack visited Virginia today with Energy Secretary Steven Chu to discuss the many ways in which saving energy, developing green jobs and pursuing new biofuel alternatives will help to revitalize rural America.

This morning, Chu and Vilsack toured the Piedmont BioProducts plant in Danville, and discussed the refinery's cooperation with universities around the country to develop the work Piedmont is doing.

After a cheeseburger, the Secretaries headed to Buddy Mayhew's farm near Chatham, where this afternoon's Rural Tour event drew about 300 people interested in the Obama Administration's plans to create green jobs for rural communities across our nation. Plenty of questions, which has been the case at every stop on the tour and gives the Secretary a great platform to discuss the many ways USDA is touching people in states like Virginia every day, every way.

Vilsack later met with local biofuel manufacturers and local USDA employees. (USDA, in case you're wondering, isn't just in Washington -- a huge part of the revitalization and recovery effort is being led by thousands of USDA employees at the county and state levels, as well as by Foreign Agriculture Service officers posted around the world).

Stay tuned for some photos of this long, but very productive and educational, day. Meanwhile, USDA staff on the road with the Secretary are still Tweeting away as the afternoon goes on.

Permalink  |  Posted at: 03:11PM Jul 18, 2009 by USDAblogger in USDA  |  Add Your Comment Here [0]