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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 #38 Aviation Forum Postgame (Raw!)
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...
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
Auburn Wetlands
Environmental mitigation at its best and worst
To build the Third Runway, the Port of Seattle proposed to fill all or parts of some 12 separate wetlands across the Miller Creek, Walker Creek, and Des Moines Creek watersheds--every one of them a class AA water, the highest protection provided by the state. FAA grants are an allowable use for this form of migitation, but FAA rules also require that replacement habitat be built more than 10,000 feet from the runways. (Wetlands draw birds and birds threaten aircraft.)
By late 1998 the Port's estimate of the needed replacement had climbed from 12 acres to about 25. To address the problem, the Port purchased roughly 50 acres of new wetland in Auburn, on a 69-acre parcel assembled under a March 1998 interlocal agreement with the city. Why so much? The Port had already negotiated a 2:1 matching policy in a previous agreement with the City of Auburn.
Citizens Against Sea-Tac Expansion (CASE) sued in King County Superior Court, Cause #98-2-23944-1SEA, arguing that the Port should not be allowed to replace wetlands in Auburn, outside the area where the damage was being done. The court ruled in favor of the Port, saying that it was appropriate given that the Port's service area was all of King County.
Being a private group, with far less resources than the Port of Seattle, CASE focused their efforts on the larger legal case--intended to stop construction of the Third Runway by denying the entire water permit.
That 10,000-foot rule cuts both ways. In March 2023 the Port sent a letter to the City of Des Moines saying that a stormwater pond in the Des Moines Creek Business Park, city-owned since 2017, was out of FAA compliance. FAA guidance treats any pond holding water past 48 hours as a magnet for hazardous birds. In November 2024 the council approved $124,191 to cover about 32,000 square feet of pond with plastic bird-deterrent balls.
One last twist. The Port has continued to expand the Auburn site and is now working to convert it to a mitigation bank—a system that lets developers elsewhere buy credits to satisfy their own mitigation requirements. Mitigation banks take years to obtain approval, but when it happens, other parties filling wetlands around the region will pay the Port to maintain the Auburn site. An obligation the Port was forced to meet becomes something it can sell.
Wetland mitigation and habitat conservation umbrella bank prospectus
Auburn City Council Rezone 5128
Auburn Wetland brochure Oct 12, 2013
Auburn Site Enhancements 2016 Presentation, Memo
Sources: Port of Seattle v. Pollution Control Hearings Board, 151 Wn.2d 568 (2004); Foster Pepper & Shefelman letter to City of Auburn, Dec. 16, 1998; City of Des Moines, Bird Deterrent Ball Purchase, agenda of Nov. 21, 2024; Port of Seattle Habitat Restoration and Mitigation Bank Program, AAPA San Diego presentation; Port of Seattle Commission memo, CIP #C800760, June 28, 2016FAA AC 150/5200-33B, Hazardous Wildlife Attractants on or Near Airports
Recent Stories
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Ep #38 Aviation Forum Postgame (Raw!)
What if the solution to decades of airport noise and community impacts has been hiding in plain sight all along? In this open letter to city managers across airport communities, we revisit a landmark yet largely forgotten document: the Sea-Tac Communities Plan of 1976. Built on the Port of Seattle's promise — *"As we do better, you'll do better"* — this collaborative plan was supposed to be the long-term answer for neighborhoods living under the flight path. So why has it been reduced to little more than an expensive property buyout program? The answer reveals a critical gap that neither elected officials nor community advocates can fill alone. Real, lasting solutions require sustained professional commitment to airport community planning — something that should have been established 50 years ago. If you work in city management, this episode speaks directly to you and the unique role only you can play in finally delivering on that broken promise. -
Three City Airport SAMP Open House Postgame
Higher quality materials, lower turnout, more time… Community Development Directors from Burien, Des Moines and SeaTac held a joint presentation to help residents provide more effective public comment on the SAMP. The video and poster boards were much better than previous efforts and we urge residents to watch. Turnout was less than forty. So, if -
Notice of Comment Period Extension — State Environmental Policy Act Sustainable Airport Master Plan Near-Term Projects Draft Environmental Impact Statement
Extended Comment Period End Date: August 20, 2026 Project Name: Sustainable Airport Master Plan Near-Term Projects (SEPA No. 2026-01) Location: Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, 17801 International Blvd., SeaTac, WA 98158 Lead Agency: Port of Seattle This notice is to announce the extension of the public comment period for the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) Draft Environmental -
FAA Approval of Noise Compatibility Program 14 CFR Part 150 Dane County Regional Airport, Madison, Wisconsin
Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration Federal Aviation Administration, DOT. Notice. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announces its findings on the noise compatibility program submitted by the Dane County for Dane County Regional Airport (MSN). On December 21, 2023, the FAA determined that the noise exposure maps (NEMs) submitted by Dane County were in -
Port Commission Meeting July 14, 2026 Postgame
Asking for Airport 101. Or at least, another 30 days. Highlights of today’s meeting agenda were the introduction of the budget calendar, our request for a 30 day extension to the SAMP NTP DEIS Public Comment Period, and the latest (but surely most entertaining) problem with the International Arrivals Facility. Public Comment began with a
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From The Web
- Boeing Seafair Air Show runs today through Sunday The U.S. Navy Blue Angels during practice yesterday at King County International Airport-Boeing Field. The Boeing Seafair Air Show kicks off today and runs through Sunday. Along with the U.S. Navy Blue Angels, performers include Torrey Ward’s Microjet and the U.S. Marine Corps F-35B, a vertical takeoff [...]
From The Library
As the source for federal transportation grants, the Puget Sound Regional Council was charged with developing a system to meet the growing need for commercial aviation. When the search for a second airport failed, they authorized the Port of Seattle to build the Third Runway, with a mandate to develop a noise abatement and mitigation program. In their effort to stop the Third Runway, the ACC argued over every detail of the Port's efforts--including property buyouts and sound insulation. The dispute was meant to be settled by a three member Expert Arbitration Panel. This is their final report. It finds 2-1, that the Port's program was insufficient in several respects. Despite that, funding for the Third Runway was approved by the PSRC, and the 'Port Package' program, proceeded largely unchanged. Expert Arbitration Panel's final decision finding that the Port of Seattle had not shown sufficient reduction in real on-the-ground noise impacts to satisfy noise reduction conditions required for approval of a third runway at Sea-Tac International Airport. The majority decision concluded the Port's noise abatement programs were insufficient despite being impressive in scope.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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