Speeches

Governor Gary Locke’s Remarks
7E7 Site Selection Criteria
May 23, 2003


Good afternoon.

Thank you for coming.

With me today are:

·House Speaker Frank Chopp

·Martha Choe, director of the state Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development

·Paul Isaki, my Special Assistant for Business.


We are here today because Washington wants to win the Boeing 7E7 final assembly.

We want to continue being home to the world’s best commercial airplanes.

We want those jobs.

And we are confident that we are the best choice for Boeing.

This morning I received an in-person briefing on the 7E7 final assembly site requirements from Mike Bair, Senior Vice President of the Boeing 7E7 Program, and Bob Watt, Vice-President of Government & Community Relations, Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

The briefing was candid and productive.

And we are the only state that received such a briefing.

Boeing plans to release its Request for Proposal tomorrow or Monday.

The RFP will detail the criteria for 7E7 site selection.

Responses will be due back to Boeing by June 20th.

Boeing expects to make a final selection by the end of the year.

Boeing will be looking at:

·Transportation

·Facilities

·Total cost of doing business

·Workforce

·Environmental considerations

·Community support

·Additional infrastructure issues such as power, sever, water and telecommunications.

Washington has a strong advantage in each of these areas.

We have been working with Boeing for the past year, taking action to keep this work in our state.

We have the runways, we have an international-caliber port, we have the needed traffic ways between plant sites and port, and we have proximity to railways and interstate highways.

We have it all.

And with the passage of the transportation package this session, we’re attacking congestion and the costs of delay.

Our transportation system will only improve, and that’s good for all businesses, good for Boeing and good for our state.

Boeing has been in Washington since 1916 when the company started here.

Except for the Boeing 717, every major Boeing commercial jet has been assembled here, from the 707 to the 777 and the Next- Generation 737.

We have the manufacturing facilities, the equipment, and the tooling in place.

The infrastructure is in place.

Key suppliers are already here in place.

We’re ready to build!

The best airplane assembly workforce in the world lives and works here.

The best aerospace engineers on the planet live and work here.

Our people are well-trained, highly-skilled, and experienced.

We’re also motivated.

And we’re proud of our Boeing heritage.

We want to continue our winning streak with another great Boeing airplane.

Our environment and weather have worked well for nearly nine decades, both for flying and building airplanes.

We don’t have the extremes of other parts of the country.

Washingtonians know that wherever we go in the world, we see the airplanes our state builds.

We’re proud of those airplanes.

Our communities have always been very supportive of Boeing—it’s part of our state history and identity.

And the quality of life here is a huge drawing card for all Washington businesses.

We’ve been working hard to improve our business environment and competitiveness.

We’ve made substantial progress since the Washington Competitiveness Council convened and issued its recommendations.

We’ve cut red tape, and streamlined regulatory processes.

The Department of Ecology has led the way in transforming to a more business-friendly approach, without compromising environmental priorities.

The criteria that Boeing released today include many of the issues that Washington is already working on or has already completed.

There were no surprises on the list.

My administration has been working with Boeing officials on a weekly, sometimes daily, basis for more than a year.

This work has focused on specific needs for the company’s future airplanes, first with the Sonic Cruiser and now the 7E7 project.

This legislative session, we passed a transportation-improvement package and signed legislation to support Boeing’s rail-barge facility in Everett.

We have also streamlined our permitting processes.

We are committed to addressing the issues of unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation in special session when business and labor have reached agreement.

My office is leading the coordinated effort to win the 7E7 final assembly.

We are working closely with county, city, private sector, labor and legislative leaders, as well as the state departments of Community, Trade and Economic Development, and Ecology.

This will be a coordinated, all-out, statewide effort.

At this point, I would like to introduce House Speaker Frank Chopp . . .

Thank you, Speaker Chopp.

Next we’ll hear from Martha Choe, director of the state Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development . . .

Thank you Martha.

Finally, I’d like to introduce Paul Isaki, my Special Assistant for Business, to say a few words . . . .

Thank you Paul.

We face some hard work in the weeks ahead.

The clock is ticking.

We are prepared to do what it takes to win.

We are highly motivated and determined.

We intend to continue being home to the world’s best commercial airplanes.

We want those jobs.

We expect to win.

And we are confident that we are the best choice for Boeing and the best place in the world to successfully assemble the 7E7.

Thank you.

Now we’ll take your questions.


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