Panama City – Bay County International Airport

NEWS RELEASE

Media Contacts:
Randy Curtis,
Executive Director
(850) 763-6751 ext. 203

PANAMA CITY – BAY COUNTY AIRPORT AND INDUSTRIAL DISTRICT
HOLDS GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY FOR NEW PANAMA CITY – BAY COUNTY AIRPORT
Governor Crist Hails Project as a Model for Economic Development and Environmental Preservation

PANAMA CITY, Florida (November 1, 2007) – The Panama City – Bay County International Airport and Industrial District (Airport Authority) today held a ceremonial groundbreaking initiating the construction phase its new state-of-the-art international airport.

The airport is being built in the 75,000-acre West Bay Area Sector on 1,300 acres of a 4,000-acre site being donated to the Airport Authority by The St. Joe Company (NYSE: JOE).

With this ceremony, work also soon will began on an unprecedented environmental preservation effort designed to help protect the entire West Bay watershed, an area considered one of Florida's environmental jewels. Relocation of the airport triggers the creation of the West Bay Preservation Area, a conservation area that will permanently protect approximately 40,000 acres around West Bay, including 33 miles of undeveloped shoreline and an additional 44 miles of creeks and tributaries.

In a prepared statement, Florida Governor Charlie Crist said the new airport is "a national model for economic transformation and environmental preservation." Crist added: "The State of Florida stands as a proud partner of this project for the new jobs it will create and the environmental jewels it will protect."

"Though we celebrate today, tomorrow we redouble our efforts to harvest the potential of this project for the people of Northwest Florida," said Airport Authority Chairman Joe Tannehill. "We will work together to attract better air service and high-quality jobs to our region, and we will continue to work with a range of partners to make this airport as green as it possibly can be."

"I am very proud of the way our community pulled together to create a shared vision of better air service, stronger economic development and permanent environmental protection for West Bay," said Tannehill.

"We have planned this property to allow this airport to serve this region and our children for the next fifty years and beyond," said Tannehill. "At the same time, we have worked with the environmental community, the state of Florida, Bay County and St. Joe to create an unprecedented environmental preservation area that protects West Bay for those future generations."

"Over the past ten years hundreds, if not thousands of people contributed to make this day possible," said Tannehill. "It would be impossible to recognize them all. But we do thank them. And we pledge to work harder than ever to make this airport a tremendous asset for this community, for the Panhandle, and for the entire state of Florida."


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