Archive for the ‘Events’ Category

The Center for Rural Affairs, Dakota Rural Action, Plains Justice and Intertribal COUP are teaming up to host meetings on renewable energy development in Sioux Falls, Yankton, Mission, Rapid City, Aberdeen and Brookings.

The meetings will feature experts on renewable energy and include a question and answer session.

Yankton Area Arts: G.A.R. Hall
508 Douglas
Yankton, SD
Speakers: Paul Blackburn and Robert Byrnes

Robert Byrnes is the owner of Nebraska Renewable Energy Systems, a privately owned company dedicated to bringing renewable energies to individuals and communities. He has been on the front lines of small wind turbine deployment and policy development within Nebraska.

In addition to raising beef, poultry and pork, Byrnes is an organic chemist by education and an industrial chemist by trade. He has now decided to focus on renewable opportunities across the state and has developed several small businesses in a rural community focused on bringing this opportunity to his home town. Robert’s work resulted in the first and largest commercial biodiesel plant in eastern Nebraska.

Paul Blackburn is a staff attorney for Plains Justice, a Great Plains public-interest law center defending the right to environmental justice and a sustainable economy through community partnerships. He is the former Executive Director of the Community-Based Energy Development Initiative in Minnesota and has worked as a policy analyst for Windustry. Originally from Iowa, Paul has helped found and participated in a number of alternative energy, transportation and conservation organizations and campaigns across the U.S. Paul is based in Vermillion, South Dakota.