Reply #1: Baiji is home to Iraq's 2 major power plants

[maddezmom]

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McClelland’s troops are working to restore some semblance of normalcy to the strategic city, which is home to Iraq’s largest oil-refinery and two major power plants that together generate about one-third of the country’s meager power supply.

First Lt. Mark Dilts, 31, is supervising a 22-member team of Ohio National Guardsmen from the 216th Engineer Battalion that is building a gravel bypass road around the bombed-out bridge. His soldiers and 10 pieces of heavy equipment have worked sunup to sundown each day, spreading rock and constructing a new railroad crossing while Task Force 1-7 soldiers guard them from attack.

“It’s almost a mile of road that we’ve built,” Dilts said.

The road, which Dilts hopes to have open in a few days, would let trucks bypass the city again and would allow McClelland to reopen Bayji’s main road to traffic.

more: http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=25748