Notes

Email exchange between Washington State Department of Ecology staff (Paula Ehlers, Tom Luster, Raymond Hellwig) regarding the legal and policy basis for 401 water quality certification requirements related to the Port of Seattle’s third runway proposal and Des Moines Creek. The correspondence debates the interpretation of antidegradation provisions under water quality standards and whether a single 401 permit can require an applicant to restore beneficial uses to a waterbody that is already impaired beyond the project’s direct impacts. Luster outlines two scenarios for addressing water quality standards in Des Moines Creek under 401 review authority.

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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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