WA based Sustainable Aviation Projects Receive Over $36 Million in Cantwell Authored Federal Grants to Make Flying Greener and Cleaner

08.16.24

WA-based Sustainable Aviation Projects Receive Over $36 Million in Cantwell-Authored Federal Grants to Make Flying Greener and Cleaner

Cherry Point refinery and Everett hydrogen aviation company to receive FAST-SAF and FAST-Tech grants included in Inflation Reduction Act, which turns two today

EDMONDS, WA- Blaine's bp America Cherry Point Refinery and Everett hydrogen-electric engine manufacturer ZeroAvia will receive large federal awards as part of over $36 million in grant funding for innovative sustainable aviation projects in the State of Washington provided under a grant programauthored by U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), chair of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, the senator announced today.

These efforts and two other sustainable aviation projects in Washington state were awarded funding under the Inflation Reduction Act program authored by Sen. Cantwell - the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Fueling Aviation's Sustainable Transition via Sustainable Aviation Fuel (FAST-SAF) and Low-Emission Aviation Technology (FAST-Tech) program - designed to invest in building sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) supply chains and developing low-emission aviation technologies to help decarbonize the aviation sector of transportation.

"This $36 million investment in the State of Washington's growing sustainable aviation industry from my FAST-Tech and FAST-SAF programs will create jobs and cut emissions," said Sen. Cantwell. "These grants will kick-start SAF production to supply airports across the Pacific Northwest, build low-emission engines for cleaner regional air travel, and develop technologies to reduce fuel burn and cut costs."

Sen. Cantwell pushed for inclusion of the two-pronged program in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which President Joe Biden signed two years ago today.

bp America's Cherry Point Refinery in Blaine will receive $26,763,504 to build infrastructure and buy equipment to allow them to produce sustainable aviation fuel for the first time, using renewable biomass feedstocks. bp estimates being able to produce 10 million gallons of SAF per year. This new project would create 96 new jobs. bp's SAF production will be key to supplying SAF to airports in the region via the Olympic Pipeline which runs from Ferndale to Portland and supplies fuel to Sea-Tac Airport. Their grant is the second-highest amount awarded in the nation during this round of funding among 36 total grants. Sen. Cantwell wrote a letter in support of the grant.

ZeroAvia, which has a hydrogen-electric propulsion R&D facility at Everett's Paine Field, will receive $4,235,000 to accelerate the process of making their hydrogen-electric engines commercially available. In 2023, ZeroAvia conducted a successful test flight of the largest aircraft ever powered by a hydrogen-electric engine. They are currently working toward FAA approval of their propulsion system and growing their presence at Paine Field to support engine manufacturing. Sen. Cantwell wrote a letter in support of the grant.

Other grants include $4,500,000 to Seattle-based APiJET to develop software for airlines to better identify and operate on fuel optimized flight routes, and $2,595,523 to Boeing to support a program to improve the measurement of fuel in an airplane fuel tank. Additional funding supporting the Pacific Northwest region includes an $11,299,500 grant to Phillips 66 in Portland, Oregon, to support SAF storage and distribution to Portland International Airport via the Olympic Pipeline.

The FAST-SAF and FAST-Tech programs aim to help state and local governments, airport sponsors, companies, research institutions, and non-profits to produce, transport, blend, or store sustainable aviation fuel and develop or apply low-emission aviation technologies. Sustainable aviation fuel reduces aviation lifecycle carbon emissions in modern jets by up to 80 percent in comparison to conventional petroleum-based jet fuel. The grant program incentivizes scaling up the production of SAF and will create jobs and economic opportunities for the nation's farmers, manufacturers, start-ups, and others in the biofuels supply chain.

In May, Sen. Cantwell led passage of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, which secured historic increases in FAA Research, Engineering, and Development (RED) funding - $1.59 billion over five years - to help the U.S. stay competitive in the global race for innovative and sustainable aerospace technologies and maintain the Puget Sound area's world-class aviation workforce.

Sen. Cantwell has long been a champion of sustainable aviation fuels and lowering the carbon footprint of the aviation sector.

In 2019, Sen. Cantwell partnered with her Senate colleagues to introduce the Sustainable Skies Act, a version of which was also incorporated in the Inflation Reduction Act, to provide a tax credit to increase the supply of sustainable aviation fuel.

Along with Washington state aviation and environmental leaders, she authored the FAST-SAF and FAST-Tech program and pushed for the inclusion of the FAST-SAF and FAST-Tech grant program and SAF blender's tax credit in the Build Back Better package at a press conference held at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in October 2021.

Sen. Cantwell hosted U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm at Sea-Tac in August 2022 to showcase how the Pacific Northwest is leading the way in sustainable aviation fuels commitments and investments.

Sen. Cantwell also joined a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in May 2023 expressing continued support for implementing the sustainable aviation fuel tax credit as intended by Congress to effectively scale up the domestic production of sustainable aviation fuel.

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