Obama visits Iowa TPI Composites plant
President Barack Obama called for the extension of the Production Tax Credit at a TPI Composites plant.
President Barack Obama spent time on Thursday pitching for renewable energy in Iowa, visiting a Scottsdale-based company's wind blade manufacturing facility that supplies power and jobs throughout the Midwest.
TPI Composites Inc. was the backdrop for Obama’s speech on renewables that focused on extending the production tax credit, which pays wind farms for based on how much energy they produce.
“If Congress doesn’t act, companies like this one will take a hit,” Obama said. “Jobs will be lost. That’s not a guess, that’s a fact. We can’t let that happen."
Steve Lockard,president and CEO of TPI, said the visit was a recognition of what the company has done in Newton, Iowa, by converting a workforce that once worked for Maytag into a manufacturing force in wind energy.
“My takeaway is that the White House is very serious about getting an extension of the production tax credit,” he said.
TPI has 700 employees at its Newton facility, and the production tax credit has been instrumental in helping it an other companies develop wind industry, Lockard said.
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