Notes

Amanda Azous submits a declaration in support of the Airport Communities Coalition’s motion for a stay, challenging the Washington Department of Ecology’s Section 401 Certification and CZMA concurrency statement issued to the Port of Seattle. The declaration argues that filling approximately 2.8 acres of wetlands in the near term will cause serious and irreversible harm to Miller Creek watersheds, and that the Port’s mitigation proposal is scientifically inadequate to replace lost wetland functions. Azous contends that stormwater management, embankment wall design, and enhancement plantings cannot fully compensate for the elimination of hydrologically connected wetlands.

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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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