President Biden visited a wind turbine factory in Pueblo, Colorado. Here's what he said

U.S. President Joe Biden has been busy the past few months dealing with the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

Biden briefly mentioned this at the start of his speech in Pueblo on Wednesday, but most of his remarks centered on his domestic agenda that has sparked billions of dollars of investment into renewable energy producers, such as the CS Wind turbine manufacturing facility in Pueblo.

He also volleyed criticism at U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, the Republican who represents Pueblo and much of the Western Slope.

Biden has made multiple stops in Colorado during his presidency, but Wednesday's visit was his first to Pueblo.

What Biden said about renewable energy

Promoting green energy production has been a priority for Biden since coming into office in January 2021.

“Jobs: that’s what climate is about, not only just saving lives and saving the environment,” Biden said.

The wind turbine manufacturing plant in Pueblo, which has been owned by South Korean firm CS Wind since 2021, announced in April that it's investing over $200 million in the plant and adding over 800 new jobs.

That’s largely because of provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act that give tax breaks to purchasers of green energy.

Biden said that CS Wind used to build everything abroad, but now they’re employing hundreds of American workers.

“Instead of exporting jobs, companies both foreign and domestic are creating jobs here in America,” he said.

Biden takes aim at Lauren Boebert

Pueblo’s congressional representative has not had nice things to say about Biden during some of her previous visits to town.

Biden also went after Boebert during his speech for opposing the Inflation Reduction Act.

“The historic investment we’re celebrating today is in Congresswoman Boebert’s district — she’s one of the leaders of this extreme MAGA movement,” Biden said.

As he mentioned Boebert for the first time, Biden elicited chuckles from the audience when he made a sign of the cross.

“She called this law a massive failure… Tell that to the 850 Coloradans who are getting new jobs in Pueblo at CS Wind thanks to this new law,” Biden said.

Boebert, like all of the other Republicans in Congress, voted against the Inflation Reduction Act last summer. The legislative package includes green energy investments, expanded Medicare benefits and a minimum corporate tax.

Boebert narrowly won re-election to a second term in November 2022. She is one of the most conservative members of the House of Representatives. She introduced articles of impeachment against Biden in June and heckled his State of the Union address in 2022.

Biden previously attacked Boebert and mentioned CS Wind at a speech in New Mexico in August.

In a statement released by her campaign anticipating Biden’s visit, Boebert attacked Biden’s economic policy and said the high cost of living under Biden’s leadership has negatively affected people in her district.

“Rather than cutting wasteful federal spending and unleashing American energy production, Joe Biden continues to pander to radical extremists, lock up more land, and spend his time focused on campaign stunts and vacations rather than doing the job he was elected to do,” Boebert said in the statement.

Boebert also asked Biden to support legislation she introduced this summer to ease the transition at the Pueblo Chemical Depot, and potentially create new jobs in the area. A similar bill has been introduced in the Senate by both of Colorado’s senators, who are Democrats.

Pueblo has historically been a Democratic stronghold but flipped for Donald Trump in 2016. Pueblo County voted for Biden in 2020.

Biden’s visit came less than a month after a Pueblo municipal election in which Democratic candidates lost most races.

What to know about CS Wind

CS Wind is a company based in South Korea that manufactures wind turbines around the world.

The company’s chairman, Seong Gon Gim, said it was a “great honor” to welcome Biden to the facility Wednesday.

Gim expressed “gratitude" to the president, “who enabled us to be part of history through the IRA.”

The facility in Pueblo was originally constructed by Vestas, a Dutch company that also has manufacturing plants north of Denver. It first opened in 2009.

CS Wind bought the Pueblo plant from Vestas in 2021.

The number of employees at CS Wind in Pueblo has been growing rapidly over the past few years. Th company had approximately 400 employees in July 2022 and now has over 900 on its payroll in Pueblo, Gim said.

CS Wind is one of the biggest employers in Pueblo aside from schools and hospitals, said Jeff Shaw, the president of the Pueblo Economic Development Corporation.

None of the company’s employees in Pueblo or elsewhere around the globe are unionized. James Won, the head of the American division of CS Wind, told the Chieftain earlier this year that they recently raised starting wages to $20 per hour and offer competitive benefits.

Approximately 1,200 people — three in four are part of a union — are currently employed at the Evraz steel mill in Pueblo, according to a company spokesperson.

Role of manufacturing in Pueblo’s economic history

Pueblo has been a manufacturing hub in southern Colorado for most of the city's history, but experienced economic woes in the latter part of the 20^th century as production at the steel mill declined.

Manufacturing has remained a key part of Pueblo’s economy over the past 40 years, but other industries have started up shop in town.

“We're very diversified, so when part of the economy gets affected, Pueblo doesn't get hit as hard,” Shaw said.

Over 5,000 Puebloans work in manufacturing, according to labor statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Pueblo Mayor Nick Gradisar — as well as Gov. Jared Polis and U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper — spoke before Biden took the stage Wednesday. Gradisar told the audience that manufacturing jobs are staying in the United States under Biden’s leadership.

Funds from an extra half-cent sales tax on purchases in Pueblo, active since 1984, are diverted to economic development. Some of that funding had been used by the Dutch company Vestas before the facility was purchased by CS Wind: once when it was opening in 2009 and another time to expand, Shaw told the Chieftain.

Shaw said that the expansion of the CS Wind plant will benefit Pueblo not just with the jobs that are created but also by potentially attracting more investment in green energy.

“A strong manufacturing community like Pueblo is a great place for companies that are involved in renewable or green manufacturing to look because we have the resources,” Shaw said, which include the workforce as well as existing utilities.

No local money is being used for the latest expansion of the plant, which is mostly being privately funded by CS Wind.

Anna Lynn Winfrey covers politics for the Pueblo Chieftain. She can be reached at awinfrey@gannett.com. Please support local news at subscribe.chieftain.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: President Biden bashes Boebert, champions renewable energy in Pueblo