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Another big win After long, long dry spells, Mobile and southwest Alabama are making up for lost time. The U.S. Air Force's announcement Friday that Northrop Grumman EADS had beaten the more political powerful Boeing Corp. for a $40 billion contract to build aerial refueling tankers in Mobile was big news. The Mobile facility will employ 1,500 but as many as 48,000 indirect jobs should be created by the contract nationwide. Some of those will most certainly be in the Mobile area. A firestorm has resulted. Seattle, Washington, where Boeing would have built the tankers, is understandably upset. Others are upset that EADS, a French company is a partner with the U.S.-based Northrop Grumman. But the Air Force and independent observers all say Northrop Grumman-EADS by far offered the best product. It was not quite a year ago that the area received the news that a nearly $4 billion steel mill would be erected at Calvert in north Mobile County by the German manufacturer ThyssenKrupp. The ThyssenKrupp plant will employ 2,700 but as many as 38,000 to 52,000 indirect jobs. To be honest, we have to wonder about our area securing the number of indirect jobs proposed but there is no doubt that Mobile- and hopefully all of southwest Alabama- will be transformed by these new industries. We are learning more and more what a global economy we really have. Not only are French and German assets being brought to the U.S but the $118 million wood pellet mill recently announced for Jackson will be shipping a large portion of its output to European countries for use.
We are in an economical slump right now, there is no doubt about that, but we are confidant that the above mentioned industrial announcements and other projects in the works will eventually help transform our region.
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