Town Reinvents Self With Wind Power

CBS Evening News: After Losing Maytag's Factories, One Town Found A Big Energy Windfall

(CBS)  Newton, Iowa, has been through some tough times. But Mayor Chaz Allen has a skip in his step these days, CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds reports.

"I think we hit the lottery," Allen said.

The source of his excitement is the brand new factory on the outskirts of town. And they have people lining up to work there.

"Yeah. We currently have several thousand applications for the few hundred remaining jobs we have open," said the plant's general manager, Crugar Tuttle.

It's an amazing turnaround for Newton - closely identified for a century with Maytag and its array of appliance. At its peak, Maytag employed one out of every five residents. But a year ago, the Maytag plant closed, and 1,800 jobs were lost. Failure was in the air.

"We worked so hard to keep that company alive, you know. And it seemed like you worked harder and harder as time continued yet you could just see it was closing down," said 18-year Maytag verteran Rick Miller.

Today, Miller works for TPI, the new company in town, making blades for new high-tech windmills.

"When I left Maytag, I didn't think that I would probably every get back into the manufacturing area again," he said.

The current economic downturn may have dented enthusiasm for alternative energy resources, but not in Newton.

Not only is a new plant operating, but the once-dormant Maytag factory itself has come back to life, too. A second company has brought more jobs to town, making the foundations for those windmills from TPI.

"It makes you feel like your just doing the right thing for your country, the right thing for this community, the right thing for, you know, yourself and the business," said Wayne Monie of TPI.

And Mayor Allen said, "The idea of having these jobs here in Newton builds everybody's confidence that we're going to get out of this."

And it's unlikely any of these jobs will be outsourced one day, because shipping one of the huge, 130-food-long blades from a foreign manufacturer all the way to the United States would simply be too expensive.

So they'll be built here, in America, by Americans.

In Newton these days, change is in the wind.

[clathrate]

Windissuck...

Wow, what a name. It lends you a LOT of credibility.

Let''s look at your argument...wind power is noisy. Well, not really. Modern turbines produce about 70 dB of low frequency noise at close range (about on par with a ski lift). About a mile away you can''t hear it. Furthermore, almost all wind turbines are NOT located in populous areas, so it''s a moot point anyway.

As far as energy storage goes...I think you''re revealing your total lack of technical knowledge here. NONE of the existing sources of power generation are coupled with much in the way of temporary energy storage. There are spinning reserves, but that''s not storage but rather a result of running at less than "full throttle": it''s an indication of short term "throttling" capacity.

None of your arguments are based on factual evidence or reality. I''m an engineer with 7 years of experience in the energy industry. You are basically pulling stuff out of your @ss.

[clathrate]

So-called ''''wind power'''' is not enough energy to supply a city with electricity.

Look at the Europeans, they are dropping ''''wind power'''' for nuclear and geo-thermol because it costs too much to the consumer.


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Posted by whitemale08

Wow, an energy expert who cannot even spell "geothermal" correctly?

Your "well informed views", as typical, are wrong. Wind energy costs about $45-50/MWhr, which is competitive with existing fossil fuel powerplant generation costs ($28-$55/Mwhr).

Those are facts, freely available to anyone who cares to do 20 minutes of research.

If wind power wasn''t economical, then private companies wouldn''t invest, period. They do not get tax breaks for installing wind plants; they only get tax relief for wind energy GENERATION. So if the plant doesn''t provide power, then there is no tax break. It''s very simple, if you care to learn anyting that is...

[antoniof123]

How much do you want to bet that the energy companies try to kill this.

The neo cons can''t stand it when something goes against their plan or if they can''t control it they will try to destory it.

[timothyone-2009]

The key to success in America is finding a product yo produce that is too large to import. Why not just tax imports to balance costs and trade, allowing Americans to share a role in the process other than borrower and consumer? We''ve now seen that spending on credit won''t last. If we don''t practice a little "protectionism" soon we will be practicing civil, or even world war. Americans won''t tolerate these lopsided laws that only help the country''s rich profiteers that leave our middle class shrinking and the poor to rot in prisons for doing what comes natural to abandoned people.

[ronmh7]

I admire Newton, Iowa!
Let`s get GREEN! Whether it be solar, nuclear, or wind power, anything is better than buying muslim oil. We need to decrease our oil dependency, to the point where we can tell the muslims, "ten bucks a barrel, take it or leave it".
When we no longer buy oil from them, terrorism will die out. Muslims will focus much more on killing other muslims, which will keep our Great Country safe.
muslims place no value on women, they are treated as property, worth abort 30 bucks. I detest this, all sexes are equal

[whitemale08]

So-called ''wind power'' is not enough energy to supply a city with electricity.

Look at the Europeans, they are dropping ''wind power'' for nuclear and geo-thermol because it costs too much to the consumer.

[ebster3-2009]

I live in Newton, IA and I am happy to see these jobs come to our town after what Maytag and the management team did to this town and the company. I''m NOT a former Maytager with a grudge against Maytag. I''m just someone who was born in Newton, left and came back. I work for a utility company that has windfarms in Iowa. I hope TPI and Trinity (the company that is in Maytag''s old home) will pave the way for other companies! Go Green!

[perk235]

.......you must not live on roads that are now over run with numerous trucks and semi-trucks, you must have never seen power stations that take up 2-3 acres per one station that glow all night long..........
Posted by windissuck at 12:41 PM : Nov 22, 2008
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No one said that energy generation would not take space and bring change. However, oil rigs, oil refineries, oil tankers, oil spills, coal mining, coal transport, coal burning, dams, hydroelectric stations, solar panels, all take up space and have some good and bad points.

Windmills turn wind energy into electrical energy and the land surrounding them is farmed. Windmills take advantage of wind energy in states that have that resource. It''s part of the energy equation, not the only solution.

[element51]

windisuck....I must say that I really admire your attitude. Let''s just scrap the whole idea of wind power and forget about it. While we''re at it, there are problems with all the alternative sources so let''s scrap them too. Why even try? That''s the real spirit of America. But it is possible that there people out there who will be able to come up with solutions? You sound like one of those guys who still believes the Earth is flat and the sun revolves around the Earth.

[windissuck]

bbpkr, the windmills do line the Columbia River Gorge.
GSCOTTH, first of all, if my post is scaring the public, then we have a very fragile public that needs to be scared. Obviously you live no where near the windmills or the noise. You obviously have not seen hillsides cut into and destroyed, you must not live on roads that are now over run with numerous trucks and semi-trucks, you must have never seen power stations that take up 2-3 acres per one station that glow all night long. You must not now that it takes more energy to switch between the energy we use now and the windmill energy. You must not understand that the windmills which use energy already produced will stop working when the power goes out on the grid they are hooked into because they dont produce enough to keep themselves going. You also must not have researched any of the countries that are now having problems with the wind towers, you must not know that some of the countries shut the wind towers off completly to save on energy. You must not realize that by using a canvas tote at the market everytime you go saves more energy then the windmills. Perhaps you should take a drive and take a real look at the destruction these windmills cause. Each wind mill needs 2 acres of land, they are taller then the Statue of Liberty and the blades when turning sound the same as jet engines. Perhaps you should check into this a little bit more before I scare you off.

[smurfcrusher]

The winds of change carry a bright future in alternative energy.

[bbpkr]

Wonderful, Newton! Windmills should be lining the
ridgelines overlooking the windy Columbia Gorge between Washington & Oregon, and powering windy
Eastern Washington towns like Ellensburg.

[windissuck]

For those of you that look at these windmills and see clean green energy you have no IDEA. They are not able to store any energy that they do create which is minimal at best. And (yes I just started this sentence with and) they destroy the land, with noise pollution, not producing any energy that reduces America using what we already have in place and they disrupt animals and birds. The windmill projects are based on tax breaks for those that have millions and are sugar coated on to farmers who supply America with the industry of corn, wheat and beef.
Before CBS puts a story on their news broadcast they should perhaps RESEARCH a bit. I don''t, know I think research is a part of news?????? Perhaps I am wrong. Lets actually look at all sides and be critical thinkers.
FOR GREEN ENERGY AND AGAINST WINDMILLS!!!!!!!!!

[ne_patriot7]

Good for you Newton and TPI.... Green is the way to go and it''s doubly good that it''s jobs not likely to be exported for the reasons stated in the article.