Iowa Governor Culver & Trinity Structural Towers Announce New Manufacturing Plant

Trinity Facility to Bring 140 New Jobs to Newton, IA

April 17, 2008 -- Newton, IA – Today, Iowa Governor Chet Culver, Newton city officials and Trinity Structural Towers, Inc. (TSTI) announced plans to build a world-class wind turbine production facility in Newton, creating 140 new, high-quality, green-collar jobs. Production could start as early as the beginning of next year.

Wid turbine crop circle, Iowa: An image of a windmill is made into a crop formation by Greenpeace and Iowa Farmers Union. The groups partnered with others to call on Congress to look to Iowa for solutions to global warming like wind power. Photo by B.G. Johnson (CC)

“Today is a great day for Newton, for Iowa and for proponents of clean, renewable energy,” said Governor Chet Culver. “I am pleased to join our friends at Trinity and Newton to announce plans to bring 140 new, green-collar jobs to Iowa. As Governor, my goal is to take full advantage of Iowa’s natural resources, along with our incredible manufacturing base and workforce, to make Iowa the renewable energy capital of the nation. This announcement in Newton is proof that Iowa’s leadership in wind energy continues to grow, Iowa's economy is strong and our brightest days are ahead.”

"We’re very excited about Trinity’s expansion in Newton," said Newton Mayor Chaz Allen. "These 140 jobs will certainly energize our strong and resilient local economy. Today is a proud day for all of us."

TSTI, a leading manufacturer of structural wind towers in the United States, is a subsidiary of Trinity Industries, Inc. (NYSE: TRN), a multi-industrial company publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Trinity Industries’ revenue in 2007 exceeded $3.8 billion. Based in Fort Worth, Texas, TSTI already has many Iowa ties. In 2004, TSTI wind turbine towers were placed in Wall Lake, Iowa, and at Intrepid wind farm in Schaller, Iowa. TSTI operates some of the largest production facilities for wind towers in North America.

“These are exciting times in the wind industry and we are very pleased to expand our operations in Newton,” said Mark W. Stiles, Trinity Industries Senior Vice President and Group President of the Construction, Energy, Marine and Components Group. “The wind energy market is core to our company’s growth strategy. Our new location in Iowa puts our company in the perfect position to serve a market with outstanding growth potential.”

“We would also like to thank Governor Culver, Mayor Allen and the many other people that worked with us at the state and city level for their outstanding support in making this project a reality,” said Stiles.

Currently, Iowa ranks fourth in the nation in wind energy production. With many projects under construction, the state is soon expected to return to third place. Iowa has more than 1,000 wind turbines in operation statewide, capable of producing 1,273 megawatts of electricity, which is equivalent to powering 318,000 homes and removing 868,000 cars worth of emissions in a year's time, reducing carbon emissions by nearly 4.4 billion pounds.

In addition to TSTI, Iowa is home to some of the biggest names in wind energy production, including Acciona Energy in West Branch, Clipper Wind Power in Cedar Rapids, TPI Composites in Newton, Hendricks Industries in Keokuk and Siemens Wind in Fort Madison.

As of November 2007, 9.5 percent of Iowa’s electricity is produced from renewable sources. Governor Culver, in his Condition of the State address, encouraged the legislature to adopt a new renewable portfolio standard (RPS) in Iowa, setting a goal to create 25 percent of Iowa's electricity from renewable sources by the year 2025.

Source: Iowa Governor

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