The Port of Tacoma has posted some tangible results in the first year of its regional effort to reduce port-related diesel and greenhouse gas emissions.

The ports of Tacoma, Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. adopted Northwest Ports Clear Air Strategy last year. The plan included short- and long-term goals for cutting down air pollution generated by port activity.

In a news release sent out today, the Tacoma port reports that the results from program's first year. According to the port:

- 57 percent of the ships that call frequently at the port use what's called distillate fuel -- basically a distilled fuel that burns cleaner than traditional bunker fuel. The port would like all ships to be using distillate fuel by 2010.

- 47 percent of the cargo-handling equipment meets cleaner burning engine standards. The port would like all the cargo handling equipment to meet these standards by 2010. All the cargo handling equipment already uses ultra low sulfur diesel or a biodiesel blend.

- All of the switching locomotives at the port use ultra low-sulfur diesel. and the Port supported the participation of its rail operators in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's SmartWay program.

- 86 percent of the drayage -- or short haul -- trucks serving the port meet emissions levels that equal 1994 emission standards. The port would like all the drayage trucks to meet the 1994 emission standard by 2010.

Falling by 19.8 percent, hotel occupancy in the Tacoma area led Washington in May with declines felt nearly statewide.

Only the Tri-Cities and Central Washington saw an increase in occupancy, up 3.4 percent for the month, according to a monthly report by Bellevue hospitality consultant Wolfgang Rood.

The statewide average occupancy rate fell 10.2 percent for the month, compared to May of 2008, Rood said. The Tacoma area rate, with 60.6 percent of rooms occupied, fell from 75.6 percent the year before.

The Tacoma area again stood alone when marking the average daily room rate in Washington. The Tacoma average rate, $82.28, was up 0.5 percent from May of 2008. All other regions of the state reported a decline in the average rate – with the statewide average, $124.68, dipping 4 percent from $129.92.

Hotels in the Bellevue area saw the greatest decline in the rate, down 13.5 percent to $133.99. The rate in Downtown Seattle, $171.38, was down 1.2 percent from 2008.

The Federal Reserve Board of Governors today issued details of an agreement with Everett-based Frontier Financial Corp., parent of Frontier Bank. The agreement was signed July 2.

The agreement says the bank may not pay dividends or make major financial decision without approval by the governors, and that the bank must prepare a detailed financial plan concerning its future.

The plan, according to the agreement, must be prepared within 60 days and must offer “an acceptable written plan to maintain sufficient capital.” It must address and consider, among other matters, current and future capital requirements, the adequacy of capital, a projection of growth and the proposed source of necessary additional funds.

The bank is also now required to prepare quarterly progress reports for the board, and may not make significant personnel decisions without approval.

Frontier shares reached a 52-week low of 94 cents in trading early today, and are currently trading at 95 cents, down 78 percent year-to-date.

The Boeing Co., making official what's been a loud rumor in the aerospace industry for weeks, today announced the purchase of Vought Aircraft Industries' North Charleston, S.C. plant.

That plant produces major composite fuselage sections for the 787 Dreamliner.

The purchase, for $580 million and forgiveness of debt Vought owed Boeing, set off speculation once again that Boeing would open a second 787 Dreamliner production line in the South Carolina city.

Besides putting Washington State economic development officials on high alert and causing anxiety in political circles in the state, the purchase gives Boeing control over a weak link in its outsourced 787 production chain.

Boeing had previously bought Vought's share of Charleston-based Global Aeronautica, a concern that mated Vought-built 787 fuselage sections with sections made by Alenia in Italy and by Boeing's Japanese partners.

From the beginning of the 787 production scheme, some analysts had wondered why Boeing had picked the financially unstable Vought to do vital and technologically advanced work on the Dreamliner.

Vought has had a handful of owners in recent decades and has announced and then canceled plans to consolidate and close plants.

By most accounts, Vought's work on the 787 fuselage sections was among the most troubled in the whole outsourcing scheme. Boeing reinforced Vought's efforts with its own engineering workforce and with money to get the project up to speed.

When Vought delivered the first fuselage sections two years ago, the sections were barely more than hollow shells. Under Boeing's scheme, Vought and other suppliers were to deliver major pieces of the aircraft wired and plumbed and ready to literally snap together in three days at the company's Everett final assembly line.

Boeing has been hinting for months that it could open a second assembly line for the much-delayed 787 at another location than Everett.

Charleston would make some sense because putting the plane together there would eliminate one cross-country flight by Boeing's outsize 747 Dreamlifters carrying the pieces built in South Carolina to Everett.

And building a second assembly line in Charleston would be a slap at what Boeing considers are difficult union workforces in Washington that have regularly struck the company. South Carolina is a right-to-work state where unions are hard to organize, and payscales are lower.

On the other hand, Boeing would have to build a new construction hall on the Charleston site and hire more workers in an area that has few trained aerospace mechanics.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes President Scott Carson told Gov. Chris Gregoire today that the company had made no decision on the second assembly line.

Meanwhile, aerospace industry forces in Washington moved to full red alert status.

Linda Lanham, a former union lobbyist and executive director of the Aerospace Futures Alliance wrote members:

"While this is not a final decision by The Boeing Co. regarding production of the 787 second line," she said referring to the purchase announcement, "it should register a loud wake up call for all of us.

"It is time for all of us to pull together and create a competitive environment to promote and enhances Washington's aerospace industry," she said.

What Washington could do further to entice Boeing to open a second line here is not clear. A recent Snohomish County study indicated that some advantages southern sites have over Everett are items that a mere vote by the Legislature would not change, namely, a higher cost of living, higher wages and an established union-friendly environment.

Boeing would have little to lose in setting up a satellite assembly line in the South other than the already strained goodwill with Puget Sound.

A second assembly line would serve to give notice to unions that their jobs aren't necessarily permanent here, and it would give Boeing more geographic diversity in case of a natural disaster. Another plant in another state, say North Carolina or Texas, for instance, would add to the ranks of Boeing supporters in Congress.

The risk for Boeing is that it would again be trying a radically different production model in a program already suffering mightily from trying to change too many tried and true methods at once.