California Employment Training Panel Awards CalEnergy Operating Corporation $167,580 Contract; Funds Help Company Hire 28 Employees; Retrain 24 More.

Business Editors

CALIPATRIA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 25, 2000

The State of California Employment Training Panel (ETP) gave the Imperial Valley economy a shot in the arm by awarding CalEnergy Operating Corporation (CEOC) a $167,580 contract for hiring and training 28 new employees and to retrain 24 current employees.

The contract is good news for Imperial County which suffers from a 20 percent unemployment rate, one of the highest in California, according to statistics from the Labor Market Information Division of the Economic Development Department.

The funds are being used in CEOC's newly developed Zinc Recovery Facility, which is a second product along with electricity from its geothermal process. The Zinc Recovery Facility will produce approximately 30,000 metric tons per year of high-quality zinc for sale to the galvanizing industry. Currently the west coast galvanizing industry is importing approximately 100,000 metric tons of zinc per year from outside the United States.

&uot;The Zinc Recovery Facility and the resulting jobs will be a boon to the Imperial Valley. The funds from ETP have helped facilitate training required for these positions,&uot; said Jim Turner, vice president of operations for CEOC. &uot;Historically this region has had extremely high unemployment. These high-paying, high-skilled jobs will work against that trend.&uot;

&uot;As we move into the twenty-first century, it is imperative that California continues to have the best trained workers in the world,&uot; said Victoria Bradshaw, executive director of ETP. &uot;Technologies are changing everyday and we want to ensure our workers can keep up and be competitive. The Zinc Recovery Facility is an exciting new development in the energy industry that is helping to secure the region's economic vitality and we are pleased to help.&uot;

Through class/lab and on-site training, 24 of the company's current employees will be retrained in the latest industry standards. The 28 new hires are being trained as plant operators. The training provides the trainees with skills to incorporate new technologies and process improvements into geothermal power generation and in the Zinc Recovery Plant.

Employment Training Panel is a business and labor supported state agency which reimburses companies located in California providing high-skilled, high-wage training to their employees. Under ETP's various programs, eligible businesses apply to ETP for reimbursement of funds for training new and current employees. The program is funded by the employment training tax paid by California employers and targets firms threatened by out-of-state and international competition.

CalEnergy Operating Corporation, located in Calipatria, Calif., is a subsidiary of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company. In the Imperial Valley, CalEnergy operates eight facilities in the Salton Sea Known Geothermal Resources Area, which produces approximately 268 net megawatts of electricity -- solely from naturally-occurring geothermal steam.

MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company, headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, has approximately 9,800 employees. Through its retail utility subsidiaries, MidAmerican Energy in the U.S. and Northern Electric in the U.K., the company provides electric service to 2.2 million customers and natural gas service to 1.2 million customers worldwide. The company manages and owns interests in approximately 8,300 net megawatts of diversified power generation facilities in operation, construction and development. Information about MidAmerican and its three principal subsidiary companies is available on the Internet at http://www.midamerican.com.

Companies that would like more information on training funds should call Charles Lundberg at 916-327-5261, or visit ETP's website at www.etp.ca.gov.