When an economic developer arrives ...

When an economic developer arrives in a recent community, one of the first things he or she does is to begin paying visits to the non-retail employer pair weeks after I arrived in Bellingham, I met Mike Tanchuck, Regional President of Intalco. During our conversation, Mike told me he had an serious concerns about the possibility of rising bottom costs forcing a closure of the Intalco operations.

He asked me what the EDC could do to help with this issue. The following week, local newspapers had headlines about the propos BPA rate increase and the possible closure of Intalco.