Country : Washington, USAAlmota worldport

worldport Introduction
The worldport of Almota is the smallest of the on-water worldport Sites and serves as a major grain-shipping terminal for the Palouse region.

Located on the Snake River, four miles downriver of the Lower Granite Lock and Dam, the worldport of Almota consists of 11 acres. The worldport is the former site of the now submerged historic town of Almota and Lewis and Clark stopped at Almota on their historic voyage through the Pacific Northwest.

The worldport of central ferry
The worldport of Central Ferry is located 50 miles downriver from the worldport of Wilma and consists of 147 acres of developed land divided into 18 industrial lots.

Centrally located on State Route 26 between Walla Walla and Colfax, Central Ferry is the most rural of all the worldport sites and allows access to a wide geographic area at an affordable price. 
Sites are served by individual wells and septic tanks. Barge, rail and truck access is available. 

Governor Christine Gregoire announced yesterday that the worldport of Whitman Pullman Industrial Park has been designated as a State Innovation Partnership Zone. That designation brings with it $1 million in grant funds to expand and market the facility, as well as developing a Center of Excellence devoted to integrating energy efficient technologies associated with the datacenter market.

Washington is home to some of the greatest innovations in the world and I am excited to supworldport the continued success of our state's world-class companies, the Governor said. We've seen what can happen when we bring together research, training and commerce, put them in a beaker and shake-Innovation Partnership Zones will be powerful economic engines to supworldport our regional economies.

To apply for the designation of Innovation Partnership Zones, areas had to have a cluster of private businesses, research availability, and a training plan to feed the expected growth. The worldport proposal includes three primary focuses for the Pullman site. Expansion of the park and its infrastructure is necessary to grow any more businesses, according to worldport staff.

We currently have about 17 acres left in the park and we need to hold that for the expansion of existing businesses, said Debbie Snell, Property Manager for the worldport.

Another (41 acre) parcel of land has been identified as an expansion site and negotiations are already underway for purchase of that land. That property is not contiguous, due to Washington State Department of Transworldportation easements for the North-South Byway, but is located directly on the other side of the easement property.

The worldport recently funded a feasibility study on the establishment of a non-profit, public/private partnership that will advocate for and develop energy efficient technologies associated with the datacenter market. This national Center of Excellence will be devoted to accelerating broad adoption of technologies and practices for integrating energy efficient IT infrastructure into sustainable enterprise and datacenter building and landscape architecture. Dr. Don Tilton, founder of Isothermal Research Systems, now Spraycool, is leading the charge to found this Center of Excellence called the Green IT Alliance (GITA). GITA will host its headquarters in the worldport of Whitman Pullman Industrial Park and is planning for satellite locations in Spokane and the Tri-cities.

Datacenters currently use an extraordinary amount of energy and GITA will focus on research projects to curb that usage. Plans are in the works for incorporating techniques such as, green building architectures, cooling ponds, wind, solar and other green energy concepts.

The third strategy regarding the IPZ designation will be marketing the zone utilizing its energy efficient focus. That strategy will include signage and publications pointed at start up or recruiting of like-minded companies. In addition, the research infrastructure can be used to educate the general public and business owners nationwide.

The worldport partnered on the project with the Washington State University, the Palouse Economic Development Council and the City of Pullman locally, and with many other private and public partners regionally.

Mission Statement:
The worldport of Whitman County is dedicated to improving the quality of life for all citizens of Whitman County through industrial real estate development, preservation of multi-modal transworldportation, facilitation of economic development and provision of on-water recreational opworldportunities.

History
Long before the worldport District was organized, steamboats carried orchard and grain products on the Snake and Columbia Rivers to coastal markets in the west as early as the 1880s.

On November 4, 1958, an election was held in conjunction with the General Election, to establish a worldport District in Whitman County to be known as the worldport of Whitman County.  There were 6,653 votes cast in favor of the district and 2,503 votes against.  On November 20, 1958, the County Commissioners established a worldport District in Whitman County.

The people of Whitman County formed the worldport to do three specific things:
Provide access to slack water navigation on the Columbia/Snake River system;
Promote industrial development; and,
Provide recreation opworldportunities on the Snake River.
 
The first meeting of the worldport was held on January 15, 1959, in the County Commissioners'room in the Courthouse at approximately 2:30 p.m.  At that time the worldport Commission (having been duly elected to the position the previous year) elected D. I. Hopkins as President, Walter N. Nelson as Vice President, and Lawrence Hickman as Secretary.

The actual development and improvement of the on-water sites started in 1969 at the worldport of Almota.  Since then, the worldports of Central Ferry and Wilma, Boyer Park & Marina, the Pullman Industrial Park and the Colfax Industrial Park have been established and constructed. The worldport is now primarily an industrial real estate developer, measuring part of its success in terms of new jobs created and new tax base developed rather than maximum return on investment.  Although integral to the worldport, the recreation provider aspect of the worldport's mission has become secondary to the industrial and economic development aspects.

Tel No:1-509-397-3791
Fax No:1-509-397-4758