After a nice Thanksgiving with family and friends, I am back on the road and today am in Eaton Rapids at Dowding Industries.

Back in May, Dowding announces that they will invest $7.1 million to build a new manufacturing facility, creating more than 350 new jobs for our greatMichigan workers.  With help from the state of Michigan and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, Dowding chose to stay here and create jobs in Michigan instead of moving to Iowa.

Upon our arrival, I was greeted by Chris Dowding, president of Dowding Industries, and after putting on the required safety goggles, toured their existing manufacturing facility.  Once their new manufacturing facility is completed, Dowding will focus on machining transmission housing, components and platforms used in the assembly of wind turbines.  Years ago, Dowding became an important supplier of blade nubs and generator rotors to Clipper Windpower, one of the world's premier wind turbine manufacturers.

Because of the quality work Dowding provided and their technical prowess and foresight, they will not only be machining the wind turbine components but will actually be manufacturing the components themselves.  This expansion highlights Michigan's great workforce and their ability to create and showcases the commitment and love that so many manufacturers and businesses have for Michigan and its economic success.

After my tour, I had the pleasure of meeting with officials from Lansing Community College and Michigan State University, Granger Energy, and Lansing Board of Water and Light, and they, together with Dowding, stressed the importance of the Renewable Portfolio Standard.  They know that for Michigan to be a world leader in alternative energy, we need an aggressive portfolio standard, and we need it now!  If we fail to act quickly, other state s will win the jobs that belong here in Michigan.  Everyone was very excited about the progress that has been made but reminded us that there is much more work that needs to be done.

On Friday, I will be traveling to Ann Arbor to visit the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory.  More to follow…