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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 #23 Honk If Ya Love California
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 Draft EA Public Comment Period is open now until December 13, 2024. 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
Earth Day 2026
April 22, 2026
When Earth Day began in 1970 the problems of environmental damage were obvious to everyone. There was almost complete bipartisan support for major legislation to improve the quality of life for everyone in America -- including airports. Even President Nixon was on board, signing into law every piece of environmental legislation that still matters.
We want you to know that we understand your frustration. As we have tried to say in Under The Flight Path, and in most of our materials, we see the problem as a sea-change in attitudes towards the environment.
The Sea-Tac Communities Plan of 1976 was groundbreaking--for all airport communities--with proposals to deal with land use, noise, air quality, essentially every complaint people today have. And every major form of remedy any airport community has ever received.
As frustrated as we all feel today, we are convinced that no property buyouts, sound insulation, noise, air, water quality improvements--including what became North SeaTac Park would have been possible without the energy generated in 1970 towards improving the environment and public health.
It has been challenging for us to convince people of that today because there have been so many broken promises. Broken promises from fifty years ago may as well be the Middle Ages.
Around the same time the Port, King County, and the FAA were finishing the STCP, Americans were already becoming weary of environmentalism. We have short attention spans, and we made so much progress so quickly, it felt to many Americans like 'job done', especially after an even bigger oil crisis and a major recession with sky high interest rates.
In 1978 President Jimmy Carter signed airline deregulation into law. Three years later, President Ronald Reagan removed solar panels from the roof of the White House.
Since then, there has been a growing split over anything to do with issues of environmentalism--which also means the harms of aviation for individuals and their communities.
When we began we interviewed the founder of Earth Day, Denis Hayes. He reflected on this growing divide. In 1970, even factory unions supported the idea. By the 1980s, the world had shifted into 'jobs and growth'.
This year, our nation will use more, not less fossil fuel than 1976. The levels of regulated pollutants are dramatically better. But pollutants which were unknown then like UFPs and PFAS are still not properly measured, let alone regulated. Unlike fifty years ago we lack even that amount courage--for fear it might be a 'job killer!' And then there is the noise. So much worse than 1970.
And the only 'solutions' the Port of Seattle proposes are oxymorons like sustainable aviation fuel, and multi-million dollar sound insulation programs exist only on paper.
Despite King County's ongoing interest in conservation, and health, Seattle is also the home of Rick Steves, who, more than any single individual, is responsible for creating the culture of inexpensive flying as almost a basic human right.
We're not quite sure how to square that circle. But we do know that the promises airports make come with a significant asterisk. People who live near airports are far less healthy, and so are their local governments than they were decades ago. The rising tide did not lift all boats and that should not be acceptable in the richest nation in human history.
1976 should not be as good as it will ever get. For us, the lessons of both Earth Day, and the Sea-Tac Communities Plan, are how much progress we can make when we put our minds to it. Instead of looking for something 'new', we hope to redirect the conversation back to where it never should have left.
Recent Stories
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Port of Seattle’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Sustainable Airport Master Plan Near-Term Projects to be released May 22
We want to hear from you! The draft State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Port of Seattle’s Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP) for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) will be available for review starting May 22, 2026. You can visit the SAMP website to learn more, sign up for updates, and -
Sea-Tac’s second terminal still 15 years away, new director says
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport’s new managing director Wendy Reiter, pictured at her office in SeaTac on Thursday. (Ivy Ceballo / The Seattle Times) By Lauren Rosenblatt Seattle Times business reporter Seattle-Tacoma International Airport needs a second terminal to accommodate more planeloads of travelers coming practically every year. The new terminal is one of several projects the -
It’s not a Game. It’s a Career.
Level Up: April 17th Historically, the FAA’s approach to recruiting and retaining Air Traffic Controllers has been to say the least, a slightly schizophrenic. On the one hand, the physical and mental requirements are more challenging than most government or military positions. By government standards, the compensation, and particularly the retirement benefits are very good. -
Port of Seattle 2024 Data Breach Settlement web site
In re: Emano, et al. v. Port of Seattle Case No. 25-2-11500-3 SEA Superior Court of the State of Washington, King County The Port of Seattle has created an official Settlement Website for the In re: Emano, et al. v. Port of Seattle authorized by the Superior Court of the State of Washington, King County. -
Ep #23 Honk If Ya Love California
**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.
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Upcoming Events
Agenda Item 10b Resolution No. 3848: Port of Seattle Participation in City of Bellevue Tax Increment Area Approval of the Port’s participation in the city of Bellevue’s tax increment area, as authorized under RCW 39.114.020. Key Points: Authorization for City of Bellevue to enact increment area up to $500,000,000 in combined assessed valuation if connected
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# New Business Items
**Order No. 2026-04:** Directs Executive Director to explore a program facilitating secure area access for union business requirements at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.**Resolution No. 3848:** Approves Port's participation in City of Bellevue's Tax Increment Area.
**Fishermen's Terminal C-15 Building Improvements:** Authorization for Executive Director to approve funding to advertise and execute a major public works construction contract for project completion.
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- **SAMP Environmental Review**: Detailed comparison between SEPA Environmental Impact Statement and NEPA Environmental Assessment processes for Near-Term Projects
- **Community Roundtable Updates**: Progress report on airport stakeholder engagement initiatives
- **Next Steps**: Implementation timeline for environmental review findings**Notable Action Item:**
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Public comment period opened for stakeholder input on airport development plans.
From The Web
jet at DFW International Airport in Grapevine, Texas, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File) By MAE ANDERSON, CATHY BUSSEWITZ and WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILLIPS The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A looming jet fuel shortage in Europe and Asia could compound the Iran war’s impact on world travel within weeks if a fragile agreement to [...]
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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STNI
- Solve for Sea-Tac. Solve for every airport.
- Since 2016, working to obtain justice for everyone living under the flight path.
- Less Noise. Cleaner Air. Better Public Health. Compensation.
- Everything you think you know about the airport is wrong.