Tanker Talk: Murtha Tours Port City

A key decision maker in the $40 billion tanker contest saw first hand where America's next refueling tankers could be built.

Congressman John Murtha (D-Pennsylvania) toured Brookley Field Industrial Complex and the Austal shipyard, which is home of the Navy's next-generation Littoral Combat Ship.

Murtha is Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, and his visit came just days after Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced the tanker contest would resume this spring.

Northrop Gruman and EADS initially won the contract last February and planned to build the planes in Mobile, but Boeing protested and the project was eventually put on hold. Alabama Congressman Artur Davis, who invited Murtha to tour the Port City, hoped Thursday's visit would put the Alabama team back on top.

"Right now we're locked in a political battle and it's preventing tankers from being built," said Davis, who says a dual contract would allow at least some of the tankers to be built in Mobile.

Murtha remained tight-lipped about the future of the deal, but he said he was impressed with what he saw. "I appreciate what I've learned, and we'll go back and see what we can work out," said Murtha during a press conference at the Downtown Air Center.

"There's no more important program than the Tanker program," Murtha said. "These tankers are 40 or 50 years old so we gotta have tankers. The sooner we get them the better."

Congressman Jo Bonner (R), Alabama Governor Bob Riley and Mobile Mayor Sam Jones also accompanied Murtha during the visit.