Story Published:
Jan 21, 2004 at 7:48 AM PST
Story Updated:
Aug 31, 2006 at 12:23 AM PST
SEATTLE - Washington's successful bid to land the
new Boeing 7E7 assembly line included an array of deal-sweeteners
from state and local government, including state-paid project
coordinators, a new training center and help getting jumbo jets to
haul in freight.
The cost is up to $17 million in state and federal money, plus
millions already committed for road and dock construction.
The new spending requests, which go to the Legislature for
approval this year and next, are in addition to the $3.2 billion in
tax breaks for the aerospace industry, a $4.2 billion statewide
transportation program that Boeing backed, and major changes in the
state-run unemployment insurance program, all approved by the
Legislature last year to persuade Boeing to stay.
Evergreen Freedom Foundation, a free-market public policy
research organization, obtained the list of perks through public
records requests. The Seattle Times published details on Wednesday.
EFF President Bob Williams, a former state lawmaker and
Republican nominee for governor in 1988, said Democratic Gov. Gary
Locke's administration had negotiated the deal-sweeteners in
secret. The state giveaways probably violated the state
constitution's bar on lending the state's credit, Williams said in
an interview.
"We've always been against corporate welfare," Williams said.
Other equally deserving businesses have been left out in the
cold while Locke threw goodies at Boeing, he said.
But the governor heatedly rejected that EFF had uncovered
anything new. The general outline of the state's bid was released
on Dec. 16, the day Boeing executives announced the state had won
the national competition for the new jetliner assembly, Locke said.
Copies of the actual contract were made public on Dec. 19 when the
state and Boeing signed papers, he said.
"We never kept anything secret, never kept anything secret,"
the governor told a news conference.
The training center to prepare Boeing workers is exactly the
same kind of deal that other businesses get at community colleges
around the state, Locke insisted.
"Our state's business climate is so bad the governor had to cut
a special, secret deal to convince Boeing to stick around,"
Williams said in a statement.
"The company got far more incentive than what we've heard about
publicly," he said. "In the meantime, many other businesses in
our state are still suffering.
"We do not fault Boeing officials for cutting the best deal
they could for their company," Williams said. "But we do think
the governor, and now the Legislature, should make a contract with
all businesses in our state to give them a competitive business
environment."
The foundation said the agreement includes:
-The state spending a minimum of $10 million to design and build
an Employment Resource Center dedicated exclusively to 7E7 work
force development.
-The state hiring a "work force development coordinator," in
consultation with Boeing, who will develop a recruitment, screening
and training program to help Boeing and its suppliers hire workers.
-The Department of Transportation and the city of Everett
improving roads to support employment levels of 35,000 at the
Everett factory and up to 83,000 in the surrounding area through
2030, including extending HOV lanes on Interstate 5 in Everett and
widening Highway 527 to five lanes for 20 blocks.
-The Port of Everett spending $34 million to build a 27-acre
facility at its south terminal capable of handling cargo
transported by ship directly from Japan; such cargo now offloads in
Seattle or Tacoma and then makes its way to Everett by barge.
-Snohomish County improving runways and facilities at Paine
Field to support modified 747s that will transport 7E7 parts, and
building a road at least 30 feet wide between the cargo pad,
Boeing's factory and its suppliers' facilities.
-The state designating a "747 large cargo freighter
coordinator" to help Boeing acquire and modify a small fleet of
747s to deliver 7E7 parts.
The widebody 7E7 will carry 200 to 250 passengers in three
classes on nonstop routes of up to 9,500 miles. Boeing says the
plane will travel as fast as today's planes, but use 20 percent
less fuel.
Boeing has yet to announce any orders for the plane. If it
decides to go ahead, production will begin in 2006, with the first
flight in 2007 and entry into service in 2008.