This morning signaled the official start of the 1st International Conference on Algal Biomass, Biofuels, and Bioproducts being held in St. Louis, Missouri. To open the event, Congressman Russ Carnahan who has been a longtime supporter of the algae industry, spoke to the attendees. After breaking the ice with a few jokes, he dove into the meat of his speech.

“Algae holds great potential to solve many of our everyday challenges.”

He proceeded by listing off the many benefits that we can expect from algae. He mentioned larger crops by acre than traditional land crops, sequestration of carbon, and the fact that major airlines as well as the military are already supporting its development.

However, Congressman Carnahan warned the crowd that not everyone in Congress seemed to be convinced about the future of biofuels, specifically algae. He talked about how his fellow congressmen had voted to support the Department of Energy, ARPA-E, and other energy related research places at levels less than what President Obama had asked.

He closed by sharing with the crowd that he has received support from many of his constituent to continue funding science-based initiatives. With this kind of public support, he cautioned those in Washington against cutting back funding on groundbreaking research like algae.

“I believe this [algae research] is going to be a big and important part of all our futures.”

Tags: conference, Congress