“Aviation biofuel is a product that can provide a renewable, locally grown energy source combining Washington’s forestry heritage and our technology future,”  Peter Goldmark, Washington's commissioner of public lands, said in a statement. “The Forest Biomass Initiative has a unique opportunity to help new, efficient technologies get to the marketplace in a pragmatic and sustainable way. Finding a higher use for residual forest biomass will help maintain our working lands that provide so many other benefits to the public, like habitat and clean water.”

The state department of commerce, Boeing and the Port of Seattle are all behind the pilot project, which is the next step in the Forest Biomass Initiative, which Goldmark launched in February 2009. The initiative was passed in April 2009 and has been used to establish four pilot projects from different areas in the state of Washington. The proposed project is the first pilot to be focused on fuel for airplanes.