07.10.13

Cantwell Applauds Groundbreaking for New Insitu Campus Along Columbia River Gorge

Cantwell: ‘An important milestone for this region’s aerospace economy’

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) applauded the groundbreaking for aerospace company Insitu’s new headquarters campus in Bingen, Wash. Insitu, an independent subsidiary of The Boeing Company, has roughly 600 employees who live and work in the Columbia River Gorge.

Cantwell visited the company’s facility in Bingen last April to highlight the impact of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill on the region’s aerospace industry. As Chair of the U.S. Senate Aviation Subcommittee, Cantwell played a key role in passing the FAA bill in February 2012, which included provisions to support technological advancements such as those at Insitu.

“This groundbreaking is an important milestone for this region’s aerospace economy,” said Cantwell. “Washington’s aerospace workers, suppliers and leading companies like Insitu have helped bolster the state’s status as a national aerospace hub. Insitu’s ongoing presence in the Columbia River Gorge will help bolster our world-class aerospace industry and support job growth across this region.”

Insitu -- a global leader in the design, development and manufacturing of unmanned aircraft systems -- is a key anchor for the aerospace industry in Southwest Washington and the Columbia River Gorge. There are more than 25 aerospace companies in the region supporting more than 1,000 aerospace jobs.

Cantwell has long been a proponent of growing Southwest Washington’s aerospace industry. In October 2011, Cantwell hosted a roundtable discussion with Insitu as well as aerospace educators and students from the region about the need to improve aerospace workforce training, including apprenticeship programs, Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education, and industry-academic partnerships. During the roundtable, Cantwell and participants also discussed how Southwest Washington companies could be a part of projected growth in the global aerospace industry.

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