Attracting business investment great or small is a strenuous undertaking in a rural area like ours.

So this week’s news that the Japanese mega-firm Tokuyama will build its silicon plant in Malaysia isn’t surprising. It’s easy to speculate why the company picked that region, passing up Coos Bay and one or two other areas worldwide. The labor costs will be low. Land is cheap. Malaysia offered lavish incentives. It’s close to the growing markets of India and China.

Two years ago, Coos Bay seemed to have outcompeted most of the world during the site search. Not a single port in America outdid Coos Bay.

This area’s selling points are numerous. The North Spit has more than 1,000 acres of undeveloped industrial land. Across the bay at the airport business park, infrastructure is developed and waiting for investors.

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