Air Force Expresses Interest In Closed Oklahoma City GM Plant

Friday, June 8th 2007, 6:24 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ The General Motors Assembly Plant, shuttered for more than a year, has caught the eye of the U.S. Air Force, which is exploring ways that the 3.8-million-square-foot facility might by used by the adjacent Tinker Air Force Base, officials said Friday.

Roy Williams, president and chief executive officer of the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, said that over the past few months Air Force officials and administrators at Tinker have studied possible new missions and military uses for the mammoth structure.

``Naturally, because it abuts Tinker, Tinker inquired about it,'' Williams said.

In a visit to Oklahoma City last month, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne met with Gov. Brad Henry to discuss the future of the vacant assembly plant, authorities said. No money has been appropriated by Congress to buy the plant and its conversion to a military facility might involve the state, Williams said.

``They are all discussing this,'' Williams said. ``We're enthused and excited about this opportunity. We think it's very serious.''

The plant's pricetag has not been disclosed, Williams said. A spokeswoman for GM in Detroit, Janine Fruehan, did not immediately return a telephone call from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Tinker, home of the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center and the primary maintenance center for a wide range of bomber and fighter aircraft, employs about 24,000 people and is already the state's largest single site employer. It is located on more than 5,000 acres east of Oklahoma City.

The GM assembly plant produced extended versions of Chevrolet TrailBlazers and GMC Envoys before it closed in February 2006 after 27 years. The assembly plant is surrounded by paved acreage that can accommodate up to 3,000 vehicles, Williams said.

``It's a big piece of property,'' he said.

GM shut down production in a cost-cutting move, the first of 12 facilities the company planned to shutter by 2008 as it struggled to survive and bring production in line with market demand.

The Oklahoma City plant employed 2,400 people _ 2,200 hourly and 200 salaried _ but economists said at the time of the plant's closure that as many as 7,500 jobs might be affected including those at GM suppliers and secondary jobs, like hotel and restaurant workers.

Williams said GM was contractually prohibited from disposing of its Oklahoma City plant for two years after announcing it would be closed, a period that will expire in September. GM has previously said it would not sell the plant to a competing auto manufacturer, he said.

``All of a sudden the uses of it become pretty narrow,'' Williams said.

The Air Force must determine whether the facility would lend itself to a military mission at Tinker and whether its acquisition and conversion would be cost effective, Williams said. Potential missions for the plant have not been disclosed.

``We're not down the road that far yet,'' he said.