When an entire county has 20,000 residents and the largest city has about 3,400, a single business can be transformative. Think of it like the ripples from a pebble tossed into a small pond — they are more noticeable than when a rock is tossed into a large lake.
Such is the case with Klickitat County, where the aerospace industry has altered the landscape over the past two decades. And as the nation debates the most effective way to spur the economy, it is instructive to examine a transformation that was detailed in a recent article from Columbian reporter Troy Brynelson.
Insitu, which builds unmanned aerial vehicles — drones for military, agricultural or industrial use — was founded in Bingen in 1994 and since 2008 has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Boeing. As the company has grown, it has provided high-wage jobs, attracted related companies and suppliers, and supported amenities such as restaurants and other small businesses. Along the way, the situation has demonstrated how a burgeoning industry in a remote location can be a case study in macroeconomics.
For Klickitat County, where Goldendale is the largest town and the county seat, this has been significant. The local economy was decimated by a downturn in the timber and aluminum industries during the 1990s — a story echoed in countless rural locations across the country. In 2000, according to the state Office of Financial Management, Klickitat ranked 29th among Washington’s 39 counties in median household income; estimates for 2016 place it 21st on that list, representing remarkable growth.
This is notable as the United States grapples with a changing global economy, and it reflects the kind of vision necessary to remake American manufacturing.
While President Donald Trump’s promises to boost manufacturing and to make America great again are laudable, his policies run counter to that idea. For example, Trump has taken steps to prop up a dying coal industry — steps that pander to many of his voters yet ignore a sea change that has taken place. About 50,000 Americans work in the coal industry, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while more than 300,000 are employed by the solar energy industry. And still the administration repeats disingenuous and inaccurate boasts about growth in the coal industry.
The American people would be better served if the administration followed the example of Klickitat County rather than clinging to an outdated and intractable philosophy. The goal should be to support growing industries, embrace high-tech innovation, and recognize that manufacturing jobs will come from ideas not yet even conceived rather than obsolete technologies.
Meanwhile, local and state governments also should take examples from the Klickitat story. Growing industries and growing populations in rural areas strain the infrastructure and the housing supply, with a region suddenly experiencing a popularity for which it was not prepared. Whenever this happens in larger counties in Washington, it points out the shortcomings of the Growth Management Act, which does not allow enough flexibility when an urban growth boundary needs to be expanded. Rather than working to stifle growth when an economy booms, state law should help facilitate that growth in a manageable way.
All of this plays a role in the story of Klickitat County, which has become an unexpected and valuable economic petri dish.
