SIOUX FALLS  —  Repower South Dakota formally opened its state office Thursday, as President Barack Obama and former Vice President Al Gore expand their efforts to change the nation’s approaches to energy and get climate-change legislation passed by Congress.

The state director for Repower South Dakota is Matthew McGovern. He is a grandson of George McGovern of Mitchell, the former U.S. senator and 1972 Democratic presidential candidate.

The communications director is Rick Hauffe, who most recently was executive director for the South Dakota Democratic Party and has been active in political and legislative issues the past two decades.

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Repower South Dakota is a non-partisan organization, McGovern told an open-house gathering of about 40 people at the state headquarters in downtown Sioux Falls. Many of the faces were familiar from past Democratic campaigns, including former gubernatorial candidate Jack Billion.

Repower South Dakota will try to build grassroots support for the U.S. Senate to approve the American Clean Energy and Security Act. One emphasis will be showing the potential economic gains for South Dakota in jobs and energy development such as wind power.

“We want everybody to know the positives of this bill for South Dakota,” McGovern said. “Scientists tell us we’re running out of time.”

McGovern said field offices will be opened in Aberdeen and Rapid City, and three additional field staff will be hired to work from Sioux Falls. He said the efforts will be similar to those used in a high-profile U.S. Senate election campaign.

“To my knowledge there’s never been an issue campaign in this state to have this big of a program, this big of a staff,” he said.

A telephone calling system using voice-mail technology has been set up to forward personal messages from voters to South Dakota’s two U.S. senators, Democrat Tim Johnson and Republican John Thune.  The toll-free number is 1-877-9-REPOWER.

Repower South Dakota is a satellite organization of Repower America, the outreach effort supported by the Alliance for Climate Protection. Gore is the chairman of the board for the alliance.

A Repower South Dakota handout available at the meeting contained the disclaimer at the bottom stating it was paid for by The Alliance for Climate Protection.

The organization describes its mission in the following statement from its Internet site:

“The Alliance for Climate Protection is undertaking an unprecedented mass persuasion exercise based on scientific facts.

“Through a new combination of non-partisan alliances with Americans from all walks of life and innovative and far-reaching communication techniques the Alliance will focus on presenting the facts about climate change and its solutions to the general public in an accurate, clear and compelling manner.”

The pro-Obama group, Organizing For America, lists energy, health care and education as the core challenges facing Americans and their families. The group is the successor to the Obama For America campaign organization.

A South Dakota OFA staff member was among those at the reception Thursday. Another goal for Repower South Dakota is to build support for Senate passage of a global climate treaty that will be negotiated in Copenhagen in December.