Pryor, Beebe Tout Arkansas Role In Energy Independence

by Roby Brock ([email protected]) 100 views 

U.S. Senator Mark Pryor and Gov. Mike Beebe touted Arkansas’ potential role in strengthening the nation’s energy independence at an 8-state Delta forum on Friday.

Rob Moritz with our content partner, the Arkansas News Bureau, reports:

“Rural America really can contribute to the solution here,” U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., said during a speech at the Mississippi Delta Grassroots Caucus at the Clinton presidential library.

Pryor and Gov. Mike Beebe both spoke of the state’s abundance of natural gas in the Fayetteville Shale Play, the growth of wind-powered energy businesses in the state, development if biomass energy and the possibilities of lignite mining and oil drilling in south Arkansas. They urged urged the various entities to work together.

Pryor also said he supports the Keystone Pipeline project, which would construct a pipe line that would carry oil from Canada’s oil sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast. That project, he said, has been caught in presidential politics, but he thinks it will be approved after the November election.

He said he also supports more off-shore drilling for oil and natural gas.

Pryor also touted a biofuel effort taking root in Paragould, a project he says could evolve into 750 new jobs.

You can read more here.