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The Podcast!
Subscribe to the only podcast devoted to helping people under the flight path everywhere. It’s definitely not just about noise!Most Recent: Ep #28 Emergency! SAMP/SEPA DEIS (3/3)
The Issues
The Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP) is the blueprint for increasing flight capacity by one third in the next ten years. It will have the same community impact as the Third Runway. In fact, it is happening now. How this is possible, and what it means for us.continue...
A two minute presentation on how the Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP) will increase flight operations at Sea-Tac Airport as much as a new runway. Without a new runway.continue...
Does your home have a Port Package of noise mitigation windows and insulation? Having problems with your windows? Mold? You're not alone. Help us help you.continue... -
The SAMP SEPA EIS Public Comment Period is open now from May 22 – July 21, 2026. Learn what is coming and what you can do to help reduce the noise, the pollution, and obtain the compensation we’ve deserved for decades.Top Story
Ep #28 Emergency! SAMP/SEPA DEIS (3/3)
May 26, 2026
On May 22, 2026 the Sustainable Airport Master Plan DEIS was released and a sixty day public comment period began.
Our third 3 minute explainer on how you can help your community by being patient and providing high quality comments. It is not click bait to say: It's easier than you think. It's not what you think.
In our last one Ep #27 (2/3), we said that the documents weren't too long, they were too short.
We may have have added fuel to the fire by noting the large amount of shared material with the federal NEPA EA -- and almost identical page counts. That never meant they were copy/pasted. They were using the same sources and same categories. Despite what anyone said, if the NEPA and SEPA documents had been radically different that would have been surprising.
No matter how much time is made available, the public will always want more. They will always complain that the documents are too hard to read. At least in the latter case the Port has complied!
Take a look at a page from the 1996 Third Runway EIS, which is very typical of environmental documents from that era. Every page is very dense by today's standards. Since the 2010's agency documents are intentionally written to be far less intimidating. That is now the law. A short front end, with as much of the technical analysis as possible (which almost no one reads) pushed to the back.This begs the question of what an Environmental Impact Statement is meant to accomplish. Back in the day, that density limited the audience to specialists, which seemed discriminatory. If you couldn't afford professionals to interpret them you were out of luck. But on other hand, this meant that the people you had to hire to read them for you had the skills to identify find flaws, push back on the conclusions, and provide truly meaningful suggestions to improve the project.
You want both: readability when possible, but always with the most rigorous available analysis. But if success tilts too much towards "digestible for laypersons", it runs the risk of convincing the public that a reasonable sounding document is genuinely reasonable. It also might provide cover to agencies (including your cities) who want to look concerned about a project, without putting in the effort it takes to understand what to do about it.
To learn how you can make a difference:
Recent Stories
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Ep #27 Emergency! SAMP/SEPA DEIS (2/3)
**Discover why environmental progress stalled for airport communities while cars got cleaner** Ever wonder why your car's emissions have dramatically improved over decades, but aviation seems stuck in the past? In this eye-opening episode of The Airport Communities Podcast, we explore the fascinating tale of two environmental paths that diverged after 1970. While Washington Senator Scoop Jackson spearheaded NEPA—one of the largest expansions of environmental policy in American history—and California secured game-changing carve-outs in the Clean Air Act that led to massive air quality improvements, aviation somehow got left behind. Despite Boeing being headquartered in Washington, aviation environmental standards never caught up. UW Meteorologist Cliff Mass delivers some stark perspective: those two annual flights to Europe generate more greenhouse gases than most people produce in their entire homes over a year. Meanwhile, Boeing's monopoly status has eliminated market incentives for cleaner technology. This wasn't an oversight—it was intentional. Today, every airport community continues paying the price for decisions made decades ago that exempted aviation from automotive-level engineering standards. -
Ep #26 Emergency! SAMP/SEPA DEIS (1/3)
**Discover why environmental progress stalled for airport communities while cars got cleaner** Ever wonder why your car's emissions have dramatically improved over decades, but aviation seems stuck in the past? In this eye-opening episode of The Airport Communities Podcast, we explore the fascinating tale of two environmental paths that diverged after 1970. While Washington Senator Scoop Jackson spearheaded NEPA—one of the largest expansions of environmental policy in American history—and California secured game-changing carve-outs in the Clean Air Act that led to massive air quality improvements, aviation somehow got left behind. Despite Boeing being headquartered in Washington, aviation environmental standards never caught up. UW Meteorologist Cliff Mass delivers some stark perspective: those two annual flights to Europe generate more greenhouse gases than most people produce in their entire homes over a year. Meanwhile, Boeing's monopoly status has eliminated market incentives for cleaner technology. This wasn't an oversight—it was intentional. Today, every airport community continues paying the price for decisions made decades ago that exempted aviation from automotive-level engineering standards. -
SAMP/SEPA 60 day public comment period opens
What you need to know The Sustainable Airport Master Plan Near-Term Projects SEPA Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SEPA/DEIS) is now available. Public comment is open for sixty days, until July 21, 2026. There will be four Port-sponsored open houses and two webinars. Several cities will also receive briefings at their city councils. We will provide -
Ep #25 Highly Automated (Flight Paths Part II)
**Discover why environmental progress stalled for airport communities while cars got cleaner** Ever wonder why your car's emissions have dramatically improved over decades, but aviation seems stuck in the past? In this eye-opening episode of The Airport Communities Podcast, we explore the fascinating tale of two environmental paths that diverged after 1970. While Washington Senator Scoop Jackson spearheaded NEPA—one of the largest expansions of environmental policy in American history—and California secured game-changing carve-outs in the Clean Air Act that led to massive air quality improvements, aviation somehow got left behind. Despite Boeing being headquartered in Washington, aviation environmental standards never caught up. UW Meteorologist Cliff Mass delivers some stark perspective: those two annual flights to Europe generate more greenhouse gases than most people produce in their entire homes over a year. Meanwhile, Boeing's monopoly status has eliminated market incentives for cleaner technology. This wasn't an oversight—it was intentional. Today, every airport community continues paying the price for decisions made decades ago that exempted aviation from automotive-level engineering standards. -
EPA to roll back PFAS limits for drinking water
The Trump administration on Monday proposed rolling back limits on “forever chemicals” that contaminate millions of Americans’ drinking water and have been linked to a range of health problems. The proposal would partially rescind the first national drinking water limits for the chemicals — also known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS — set
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Upcoming Events
2:45pm - Host Update: City of Burien: Sarah Moore, Mayor, City of Burien
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2:55pm - SAMP NTP Environmental Update: Steve Rybolt, AV Environment
3:40pm - Highline Schools: Future Ready Overview: Janet Blanford, Director Secondary Success, College & Career Readiness, Highline School District
3:50pm - Port of Seattle Educational Partnerships: Marco Milanese
4:00pm - StART Update: Wendy Reiter
From The Web
From The Library
A report examining the barriers to implementing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in Massachusetts, authored by Neil Rasmussen and Chuck Collins from the Institute for Policy Studies. The report analyzes challenges and obstacles facing SAF adoption in the state.continue...
Under The Flight Path
Under The Flight Path: A Community History of Sea-Tac Airport. Help us complete the first comprehensive documentary of any major US airport; the impacts on the cities and the people.continue...
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