U.S. Sen. Al Franken announced Friday that his staff will be in Albert Lea today to meet with a variety of renewable energy advocates and business leaders about the potential that renewable energy holds for the region and the state. Franken, who was named to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in January, has conducted an Renewable Energy Listening Tour in communities across the state during the first half of 2011. Because Sen. Franken will be in Washington, D.C., in the coming weeks while the Senate is in session, he has asked his state Energy Director Al Juhnke and his Minnesota field staff to conduct a series of renewable energy meetings across the state.

“Minnesota is a leader in the creation of renewable energy and I’ve found that by visiting communities across the state that we have a lot to teach Washington, D.C., about the potential for jobs and economic development,” Franken said. “As a member of the Senate Energy Committee, I know that the input I get from Minnesota renewable energy providers at these meetings will help with my efforts to bring what Minnesota already knows about renewable energy to our nation’s Capitol.”

The meeting in Albert Lea will be at Freeborn-Mower Cooperative Services at 2:30 p.m.