Cascadia Coalition Sets Ambitious Course for SAF Production

A consortium of Washington state legislators, research institutions, and local aviation industry leaders such as Boeing launched a joint initiative to rapidly scale the production and adoption of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). 

Announced on Thursday at Boeing Future of Flight, the museum located adjacent to Boeing’s Everett production facility, the Cascadia Sustainable Aviation Accelerator (CSAA) aims to ramp the region’s SAF production capacity to one billion gallons per year by 2035. 

CSAA has so far raised $20 million for the initiative; it received $10 million in Washington state appropriations in 2025, which was matched by a $10 million philanthropic donation. According to CSAA, it is the most comprehensive and well-funded SAF initiative in the region. 

Boeing is one of the founding partners of the CSAA, alongside Alaska Airlines, Earth Finance, Snohomish County, the Port of Seattle, Microsoft, Washington State University, Amazon, and the Washington Department of Commerce. 

During the launch event, Bill McSherry, vice president of state and local government operations at Boeing, said Boeing has committed to increasing its SAF procurement in 2026, with all test flights and delivery operations from Boeing’s Seattle-area facilities flying on a blend of up to 30% SAF. The biofuel is delivered “neat” (100% pure) in tanker trucks and blended with conventional jet fuel on site. 

Boeing began SAF test flights in 2008 and helped to catalyze regulatory approval for commercial use in 2011. The Boeing EcoDemonstrator achieved the world's first commercial airplane flight using 100% SAF in 2018. By 2030, Boeing plans to have all aircraft it delivers capable and certified to fly on 100% SAF. Under current regulations, SAF use is limited to a 50-50 blend with conventional jet fuel. Boeing procured 6.3 million gallons of blended SAF for U.S. operations in 2024, sourced primarily from Neste and World Energy. The company’s SAF usage during 2025 will be revealed in its next annual sustainability report, which is typically published mid-year. 

“The best way to increase SAF use is to expand production and make it more cost-competitive, and that's why we are here today,” McSherry said. “For more than a century in Washington State, Boeing has partnered with state and local governments, our customers, and the community to turn ambitious ideas into reality. The Cascadia Sustainable Aviation Accelerator is a concrete example of the next phase of that collaboration. Working together, we're making meaningful progress on building a sustainable aviation fuel ecosystem right here in Puget Sound.” 

No refineries in Washington state are currently producing SAF commercially, but at least two companies are moving forward with plans for large-scale production plants: Twelve and SkyNRG. Silicon Valley start-up Twelve expects to open its production facility in Moses Lake this year and is targeting an initial production rate of 40,000 gallons of SAF annually, eventually scaling to one million gallons.

SkyNRG, a global SAF company based in the Netherlands, recently secured environmental approvals from the Washington State Department of Ecology and Walla Walla County for a SAF production plant on a 165-acre site in Wallula. 

Known as Project Wigeon, the SkyNRG facility will use renewable feedstock—primarily natural gas from landfill emissions and “a little bit from dairy digester emissions”—to produce 50 million gallons of SAF per year, SkyNRG executive and former Washington state senator Andy Billig said during the launch event. SkyNRG aims to begin production there by 2030.

“For several years, Boeing has supported SkyNRG’s efforts to develop SAF in the Pacific Northwest to enable our industry’s long-term growth, innovation, and efficiency,” said Allison Melia, vice president of sustainability at Boeing. “We look forward to leveraging SAF supply from SkyNRG and others for our operations as we increase airplane production to meet strong demand for our products.”