What’s more conceivable: that there’ll be another terrorist attack on par with 9/11 or that Pennsylvania could be a stand-in for Wall Street in the event of the former coming to blows? If you’re one of the officials from the Keystone State trying to “capitalize on fears of the chaos another terrorist attack might cause in New York’s financial industry,” and hocking your product, “Wall Street West,” you’re probably crossing your fingers and hoping for both.

Catherine A. Bolton, project director of the Wall Street West consortium, maintains that PA—the Poconos specifically—is ideal because , at 100 miles west of Manhattan, it is out of the “theoretical blast zone” (to beat the terrorists, you must think like the terrorists) but still close enough to link directly to the machines running the banking and trading systems.

P-town is so excited about this idea that they’ve brushed off the suggestion that New Jersey and Connecticut might be better suited for the job (not enough Amish). Governor Edward G. Rendell announced a plan yesterday to build a $24 million network of fiber optic cables to transmit data from Manhattan to the Poconos, perhaps a bit prematurely, as the New York Times notes that there’s yet to be “any sign of serious interest from firms in the real Wall Street area.” (Our emphasis, ‘cause where does the Times get off?)

Goldman Sachs has already leased Amaranth’s old office space in Greenwich, so it seems unlikely that they’ll be persuaded to take a 3 night, 4 day stay in the most luxurious resort destination in the world. And Rendell has said that “if no one decides to come, we won’t build it.” Which is such a brilliantly defeatist statement that it might actually work.

Pennsylvania Tries to Sell Itself as Backup for Wall Street During a Disaster [NYT]