Mon, Nov 17, 2003
But Does Moses Lake Have The Right Stuff?
Moses Lake (WA) has had
some pretty big dreams in the past. Like the time town officials
thought Moses Lake might someday become home to the Supercollider.
Or when they vyed for the chance to become a landing site for a
commercial space venture. Oh, there was also the time they thought
Moses Lake would be the perfect place to build amphibious assault
craft for the Marine Corps. There was even talk of making Moses
Lake home to the production of ethanol, an alternative fuel.
Alas, none of those projects ever came to fruition.
Now, Moses Lake has its eyes on the Dreamliner, Boeing's 7E7.
Moses Lake wants to be home to the new aircraft's manufacturing
plant.
The town is not alone.
Moses Lake is one of two locations proposed by Washington state
to satisfy Boeing's shopping list of concessions it wants from a
new manufacturing headquarters. The plant is expected to create
1,200 jobs wherever it lands.
"We've put together what we think is a very competitive
proposal," said David Senne, executive manager of the Port of Moses
Lake. The Tacoma (WA) News-Tribune reports Senne and company think
they have an edge. They're offering Boeing:
- Cheap, plentiful electrical power
- Fiber-optic cable
- Land
- An airport with a 13,500-foot runway
- New sewage treatment facilities
- A 50-year history with Boeing
Many of these items are indeed on Boeing's list of things it
wants in place before it commits to a plant that will build the
Dreamliner.
That runway could be a big factor. Boeing is very familiar with
it. The B-52 and B-47 both made their first landings at Moses Lake.
JAL uses the facility to train its 747 pilots. There's a lot of
hangar space at the former military base. It could satisfy Boeing's
requirements for runway length and hangar space, given that the
company wants to fly in Dreamliner components from all over the
world.
In spite of all that, Al Anderson, who works at the Port of
Moses Lake, can't say whether he thinks his town has a shot at this
latest adventure. "The competition isn't Everett," he said of the
other site Washington state is offering to Boeing. The competition
isn't South Carolina or Texas, he said. "The competition is Airbus.
And we've got to keep that in mind all the time - for Boeing."
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