Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he’s “pleaded” with ranking officials at General Electric to reconsider plans to buy wind turbine blades from a company in Denmark instead of its long-time partner in Iowa. G-E’s plan to shift production overseas has resulted in T-P-I Composites of Newton announcing the plant’s shutdown in December, eliminating more than 700 jobs. Grassley says G-E listened to his case.

G-E bought a Denmark-based wind turbine blade maker in 2017 and has placed no orders with T-P-I for 2022. G-E was T-P-I’s biggest customer, and T-P-I is Newton’s largest employer since the pullout of appliance giant Maytag’s headquarters and factory in 2007.