This is how WA state continues to sell its soul to keep Boeing in the state..........the latest in a long line of inducements to keep Boeing here.
Officials call for more training, less regulation to land Boeing's 737 MAX plant
Washington state officials Thursday promised to beef up aerospace training in the region and reduce regulatory hurdles to manufacturing expansion in a bid to secure this state as the place where Boeing will assemble the 737 MAX, the newly announced version of the workhorse jet.
By Dominic Gates
Seattle Times aerospace reporter
State officials Thursday promised to beef up aerospace training in the region and reduce regulatory hurdles to manufacturing expansion in a bid to secure Washington as the place where Boeing will assemble the 737 MAX, the newly announced version of the workhorse jet.
The state has commissioned consulting company Accenture to do a detailed study of the competition for that siting decision, to be ready by Oct. 22.
From that study, a legislative package will be drafted for the January session of the Legislature.
On a day when the state revenue forecast dropped an additional $1.4 billion, it's clear officials won't be in a position to offer the breathtaking scale of the $3.2 billion incentive package presented to Boeing in 2003 to assemble the 787 Dreamliner in Washington.
Instead, proposals discussed so far center on more funds for aerospace education as well as removal of policy obstacles — such as environmental regulations — to new manufacturing operations.
At Gov. Chris Gregoire's annual Aerospace Summit, this year in Kent, Boeing executives and state representatives indulged in a public love fest.
The organizers of the summit named Boeing Washington's "aerospace company of the year." Then, in a video message, Boeing Commercial Airplanes chief Jim Albaugh saluted Gregoire's leadership, leading off a series of paeans to the governor from executives of local aerospace suppliers, senior Boeing representatives and local government officials.
Yet Gregoire acknowledged Washington "can take nothing for granted." She said if the state is to snag the 737 MAX, it must have everything in place by spring.
The MAX, equipped with new, more efficient engines, is slated for service in 2017.
Tayloe Washburn, senior adviser to Gregoire in the effort dubbed Project Pegasus, said Boeing's hiring boom and the prospect that 737 production could rise as high as 60 planes a month, offers "the lowest hanging fruit in our state" as Washington struggles to create jobs.
"It's obviously the worst possible time," Washburn said in an interview after his address. "But no government can just keep cutting. You have to figure out how you are going to grow jobs.
"By the end of October, we'll have a good outline if not a bill, and we'll use the time in November and December to work with the Legislature and to educate the public and stakeholders as to why this is important."
Rogers Weed, director of the state Department of Commerce, said Boeing's plan to increase production by some 50 percent over the next three years comes as other sectors shed jobs.
"The pressure for job growth has never been greater," said Weed. "Where can we get short-term job growth? Aerospace is one of the best opportunities."
In Snohomish County, 5,900 aerospace jobs were created in the past year, according to County Executive Aaron Reardon.
The audience listened intently as Washburn laid out the steps the state will take ahead of a decision Boeing has said it will make within the next six to eight months.
The Accenture study is expected to cost more than $600,000. The two major unions at Boeing, the International Association of Machinists and the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, are each contributing $100,000. Washburn appealed to suppliers to contribute. He said the study will determine what factors count with Boeing in making its location decision and how this state measures up against others in the key areas.
Workforce training will be a major element of the proposed package, as both Boeing and suppliers struggle to find both engineers and skilled production workers. The University of Washington and Washington State University are drafting a joint proposal to increase their engineering enrollment by about 10 percent.
And Washburn said, "It's in our self interest to do everything we can to remove regulatory obstacles ... including environmental regulations.
"That's very doable."
But he said that during talks with Boeing, a big package of financial incentives "has not been on the radar screen" and he sees no evidence to suggest the state will need to provide tax breaks "anywhere close" to those it gave in 2003.
Dominic Gates: 206-464-2963 or dgates@seattletimes.com
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