October 21, 2002August 2, 2026

EXH AR016605: Prefiled Testimony of Dr. Michael Riley — ACC v. Ecology and Port Of Seattle, PCHB No. 01-160

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Prefiled testimony of Dr. Michael Riley, Civil Engineer, in PCHB No. 01-160, Airport Communities Coalition (ACC) v. State of Washington Department of Ecology and Port Of Seattle. Riley performed modeling analysis of fill criteria in the 401 Certification for the Third Runway embankment at Sea-Tac Airport, using conservative assumptions including maximum metal concentrations allowed by numeric fill criteria. Model simulated leaching of soil constituents over 1,000 years and predicted discharges from the embankment would not exceed water quality criteria for neighboring creeks. Riley also reviewed Pacific Groundwater Group low flow modeling and found it reasonable, characterizing Dr. Patrick Lucia’s criticisms as erroneous or irrelevant. Topics include metals transport, total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH), groundwater contaminant transport modeling, and water quality protection. AR016605–AR016607.

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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.

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