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McWane, Inc.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW JERSEY IRON FOUNDRY TO CELEBRATE 150 YEARS

Anniversary coincides with launch of the most advanced emissions control technology in North America

Phillipsburg, NJ, February 28, 2006 - On March 3, 2006, Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Co. (“Atlantic States”) will celebrate the 150 year anniversary of the Phillipsburg, New Jersey foundry. The notable milestone in the history of the foundry will be marked by the official launch of a new emissions control system that will enable Atlantic States to go beyond compliance with current and anticipated environmental regulations pertaining to particulate and mercury emissions.

Remembering the past

The original foundry was founded on March 3, 1856 as the Warren Foundry and Machine Company. According to its charter, its purpose was to “Carry on General Foundry business, including the casting of stoves, steam engines, mill gearing, and all or any branch of the Foundry Business.” The owners of the foundry changed hands several times until 1975, when Alabama based McWane, Inc. bought the facility and it became known as Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Company. Since its founding, it is estimated that the foundry has produced enough pipe to circle the globe one and a half times, with much of its pipe still holding after being laid over 100 years ago.

“Following the Civil War, New Jersey became a state known as much for making things as growing things,” said Mitchell Kidd, vice president and general manager at Atlantic States. “With long silenced industrial production lines from Paterson to Camden, sadly that is no longer true. But here in this small town on the banks of the Delaware, we have shown that American manufacturing can survive in the 21st Century, provide good, high-paying jobs, sustain communities and do it all while protecting our environment.”

“The history of the Phillipsburg foundry spans three centuries. And in a country that has lost nearly three million manufacturing jobs over the past five years alone, the plant serves as a living monument to the American worker and the pride of the foundryman,” said G. Ruffner Page, president of McWane, Inc., Atlantic States’ parent company.

Building for the future

New Jersey has the strictest-in-the-nation environmental regulations. Atlantic States will become a beyond compliance environmental leader with the installation of its leading edge mercury emissions reduction technology, well in advance of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s (NJ-DEP) new emissions standards set to go into effect 2010.

The emissions control system represents a capital investment in excess of $9.3 million and will also surpass cupola (i.e. furnace) emission standards set by the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection (US-EPA) in April 2004. In addition to its many environmental benefits, the steam plume which has been visible over the skies of Phillipsburg for 150 years will virtually disappear.

“McWane’s founder, J. R. McWane, once said ‘the glory of business is not to make money out of it alone, but to make progress in it…to improve the state of the art.’ With the installation and successful operation of state-of-the-art mercury controls, Atlantic States has established itself as a leader in the foundry industry nationwide for years to come,” said Mr. Page.

About Atlantic States
Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Company, based in Phillipsburg, NJ, is a Division of McWane Inc. The foundry was first founded on March 3, 1856 as the Warren Foundry and Machine Company and was acquired by McWane, Inc. in 1975. Today, Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Company, which employs approximately 300 people and utilizes the latest engineering techniques, is recognized as one of the country’s most experienced manufacturers and suppliers of Ductile Iron pipe, meeting customer needs throughout the Mid-Atlantic, New England states and Canada. For more information, please visit http://www.atlanticstates.com/.