Santa Rosa, Escambia commissions jointly support Mobile tanker project
BY PAM BRANNON Gulf Breeze News Pam@gulfbreezenews.com

The Northrop Grumman tanker project slated to bring 1,576 jobs to Mobile, Ala., next year also could be a $100 million boon to the Florida Panhandle economy.

That's the word Leroy Barnidge of Northrop Grumman told commissioners from both Santa Rosa and Escambia counties last week.

The five-member Escambia County Commission and fivemember Santa Rosa County Commission held a historic joint meeting in Pensacola last week.

"I don't know if this has ever been done before - if it has, it might have been in the early 90's. But I think we have issues we should work on together," Escambia County Commission Chairman Mike Whitehead said.

"Agreeing to pass a resolution supporting the military tanker project in Mobile should be an easy one for us to start with, since we will all agree on that for sure."

Steve Nodine, Chairman of the Mobile County Board of County Commissioners, told the Florida commissioners, "Besides the more than 1,500 jobs this project will bring to the region, it will also bring tier-one suppliers needed to support the project. They can locate within 160 miles of the tanker plant. So it will take everyone from Destin to New Orleans to put forth a real regional effort to bring these jobs to this area. You, here in the Florida Panhandle, are in the epicenter of the development."

The Northrop Grumman representative said, "Right now, the military has contracted for 176 of these tanker planes. There is a protest going through due process, but when that is over we all need to be ready to hit the ground running. There are only two aerospace manufacturing centers in the world - one is in Seattle, Wash., and one is in Europe. This could be the third."

Nodine told the Florida commissioners, "We need your help. We need help with Gov. Charlie Crist's office, we need help with Sen. Nelson and Sen. Martinez. We need you to lobby them to get behind Mobile receiving this contract.

"Mobile County has been working on this project for over three years, and last year we went to the Paris Air Show. If we had not done that, we would not be where we are today, on the edge of beginning this project in Mobile."

Whitehead said he had already met with Crist about this issue.

"Last week, I was able to get about 20 minutes with the governor, and he pledged his resources to this project. He is aware of the impact of this on Florida, and he (wants) a laundry list of what we need from him to help support the project."

Escambia and Santa Rosa voted to sign a joint resolution to support Mobile in the military refueling plane tanker contract issue.