Talk:Roy Blunt

Here's a Blunt related article that I haven't used. It is Missouri Pork from the Missouri boys in the beltway in the form of a turkey carcass to diesel fuel plant that is wholly unfeasible economically, and really smelly: (url is probably no longer active)

Kansas City Star - April 12, 2005 Innovative plant faces economic, environmental hard times Associated Press

CARTHAGE, Mo. - Five years ago, residents of this southwest Missouri community welcomed an innovative new plant where turkey leftovers would be turned into crude oil.

Now, many of those people think the plant stinks and is hurting the local quality of life. And with production costs twice as high as what the oil is selling for, the owner of the business says he needs some concessions from the government to keep the plant going.

Carthage residents have filed hundreds of complaints because of the offal smell.

"It's rotten," said Carthage resident Beth Longstaff. "You can't get away from it. It's like something out of a horror movie."

The odor has received the attention of government officials, including members of the state's congressional delegation who helped the plant land millions of dollars in federal grants.

"The congressman believes in the technology," said Dan Wadlington, spokesman for Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Missouri. "Two hundred tons of turkey guts and feathers, and you come up with 100 barrels of refineable oil - it's a heck of a deal."

How much of a deal it really amounts to is debatable. One barrel of grade 2 to 6 diesel oil costs almost $80 to make, but the company that's buying the experimental oil is paying only about $40 a barrel.

Brian Appel, the man who runs the plant, told The Kansas City Star that he doesn't think the process can be financially successful in the United States for several years. He has put plans on hold to build more plants in Colorado, Alabama and Nevada.

"I owe it to the people who have been really supportive of what we plan to do, to do everything in my power to turn that around," Appel said. But, he added, "I don't know how long I can keep funding this."

Appel is considering a deal to build a plant in Ireland, where costs would be much cheaper, and is negotiating with officials in Italy and Germany.

Appel had expected the Carthage plant to cost $15 million to build. And with a ConAgra turkey Butterball plant in town, he also figured he would be paid to take the turkey leftovers away.

But he figured wrong on both counts. Design problems caused the plant's construction to be closer to $40 million, and instead of being paid $24 per ton to take the offal away from turkey plants, they are charging him $52 a ton to get it.

Appel said if the federal government would ban feeding animal waste to animals, processing plants would pay him to take the waste because they wouldn't have any use for it.

On top of the expenses, the $1 per gallon - or about $42 per barrel - biofuel tax credit he hoped to receive for production costs didn't happen because his experimental oil did not meet the definition of "biofuel."

In Ireland, he said, his losses would be reversed because processing plants would pay him to take the waste and the government would give him a tax credit.

Blunt's spokesman said there's still a chance Appel's plant could receive a tax credit.

"We are exploring that because the energy bill is still a work in progress," Wadlington said. "The congressman would like to find a solution."

Even if more-favorable economic conditions befall the plant, Appel still must figure out what's causing the smell. He already has spent part of a $12 million federal grant he received last year to try to fix the problem.

Ann Carter, who owns a wine, cheese and gourmet food store, said the first time she smelled the odor, she went outside and checked in the alley to see if something was there.

"It was worse than a farm smell," she said. "I figured something had died."

Blunt, Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., and Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo., wrote a letter on March 18 asking Doyle Childers, director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, to find out what's causing the odor.

"The plant ... has great promise, with the hope of reducing our dependency on foreign oil," they wrote. "We do not want this technology to fail."

Childers said odor agents are installing new monitoring devices to collect data and try to find out where the smell is coming from. The process is expected to take about 45 days.

"We don't want to jeopardize a technology that could eventually be very important to really our whole country," Childers said. "Everybody said they want to work together."

&copy; 2005 AP Wire and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.

also, I have a bunch of Blunt official press releases archived. They are served in a javascripted app on his site, so not real easy to just scrape. Let me know if you want anything specific. It's mostly the usual bragging about the pork coming to his district, along with a light sprinkling of conservative dogma.

Here is his revision on the cause for Iraq War: from Saddam having WMDs to Saddam being WMD:


 * Blunt Press Release - February 5, 2003
 * BLUNT ON POWELL SPEECH: “A TURNING POINT”

WASHINGTON---House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (Mo.) called U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell’s address to the United Nations Security Council “a turning point” in the international dialogue on Iraq.

Describing today’s speech as “sobering,” Blunt said, “Secretary Powell proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Saddam Hussein has repeatedly demonstrated a callous disregard for the United States and the community of nations. He has developed and stored biological weapons like mass quantities of anthrax and uses mobile factories to evade weapons inspectors.”

“Saddam has poison and explosive training facilities,” Blunt continued. “He has treated individual Iraqis as ‘guinea pigs’ to see how his weapons work.”

Blunt met with a bipartisan group of House and Senate leaders early this morning at the White House, where they received an advance briefing on Secretary Powell’s U.N. address.

“President Bush and his team have, by revealing the tip of the iceberg, forcefully made the case that we must force Saddam Hussein from power. Saddam’s reign of terror has been marked by aggressive and tyrannical attacks on his own people and on neighboring countries,” Blunt continued. “Many government leaders have dangerous weapons, but Saddam has proved time and again that he will actually use them.”

“What we need is full compliance, not lukewarm cooperation, from Saddam Hussein,” Blunt said. “The last U.N. resolution requires Saddam to surrender his weapons of mass destruction and his plans for more, and we expect him to do so.”

“Secretary Powell presented incontrovertible evidence that the Iraqis are subverting the weapons inspections process and protecting terrorists,” Blunt continued. “If they have, as they say, ‘nothing to hide,’ then why are they hiding things?”


 * Blunt Press Release - March 19, 2003
 * STATEMENT OF MAJORITY WHIP ROY BLUNT

WASHINGTON-House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (Mo.) issued the following statement regarding the commencement of military efforts to liberate Iraq tonight:

“The international community has given Saddam Hussein eleven years and countless chances to cease his reign of terror and his tyrannical attacks on his own people and on neighboring countries.

“This week, President Bush gave Saddam Hussein 48 hours to disarm and leave Iraq.

“Saddam has ignored these demands and has continued amassing weapons of mass destruction, and we must confront the threat he poses.

“I support the President and our armed forces fully, and I know I join all Americans in prayer for our troops and for a swift conclusion to their mission.”


 * Blunt Press Release - March 21, 2003
 * BLUNT: “Tonight the world is witness to the beginning of the end of tyranny in Iraq”

WASHINGTON---Praising our troops, our president, and our allies, House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (Mo.) tonight made the following statement:

“We are blessed that the best fighting men and women in the world are on the front lines tonight to ensure our continued security.

“Our freedoms come at a price, and tonight the world is witness to the beginning of the end of tyranny in Iraq and the dawning of a new day for the people of the Gulf region.

“When they return, all Americans will owe our soldiers a debt of gratitude for their service in ending the cowardly dictatorship of a mad man.

“With the growing coalition, larger than that of the first Gulf War, our fighting forces will bring freedom to the people of Iraq.

“Tonight we saw the first casualties of this mission, but, in the next weeks and months, our troops will make us proud, as they complete that mission, ending the tyranny of a horrible regime.”


 * Blunt Press Release - March 25, 2004
 * BLUNT: SADDAM MOST LETHAL WMD

WASHINGTON--- Majority Whip Roy Blunt (Mo.) today reaffirmed the United States’ decision to rid the world of Iraq’s brutal dictator and supported the men and women in uniform who are bringing peace and stability to a region once ruled by fear:

“Almost a half million innocent Iraqis were murdered during Saddam’s 30 years of destructive rule. Not all of these Iraqis were killed with nuclear warheads, anthrax or ricin poison, but all were murdered by the most lethal WMD Iraq possessed - its brutal dictator Saddam Hussein.

“One year later - after statues toppled, palaces crumbled and the once powerful dictator was found hiding in a hole - Iraq has been returned to the Iraqi people. But there is still more work to be done to ensure stability in this volatile region.

“We’ve known all along that we were facing a new kind of enemy in a new kind of war.

“As evidenced by the 3/11 bombings in Madrid, and the bombing today in Baghdad, there are pockets of resistance - terrorists who seek to stand in the way of progress and shake our will.

“But the United States is committed to the ongoing war against terror.

“Our brave men and women in uniform are on the front lines, ridding the world of the shadowy terror organizations that have plotted to harm innocent people for far too long.

“We’ve made tremendous progress, and we will not relent until the security of Americans and freedom-loving people around the world is achieved.”

--Hugh Manatee 15:41, 30 Sep 2005 (EDT)