Four hours, 700 pages
Meeting Agenda
It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.
Sustainable Airport Master Plan Draft EA Presentation
(Item #11a SAMP EA Presentation)
Sarah Potter: Landrum & Brown, Steve Rybold and Sarah Cox: Port of Seattle
Today’s Commission meeting was the Port’s first presentation concerning the Draft EA published yesterday. To summarize the 4,500 page document in one sentence, the only required mitigation will be for construction impacts. There is nothing for Air Quality, Noise, Environmental Justice, Cumulative Impacts. None.
Port Environmental Director Sarah Cox acknowledged this and gave the Commission hope for more mitigation options in the SEPA process, which will occur after the Federal assessment is complete in Q3 2025. However, given the fact that the Port self-permits (through an agreement with the City of SeaTac) we are skeptical.
45 Day Comment Period
The Port of Seattle had six years to prepare this document, totaling over 4,500 pages. 45 days for 4,500 pages. But 4,500 pages only skim over the 31 projects–each of which might require a thousand pages should the FAA ultimately decide that a full Environmental Impact Statement is needed.
Open Houses will begin in mid-November, half way through that public comment period. Public comments can be submitted online, by email, by regular mail, or in person at one of the four public meetings.
Public meeting dates:
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- November 12 (Tuesday) — 6 to 8 p.m. — Wildwood Elementary School (Federal Way)
- November 13 (Wednesday) — 6 to 8 p.m. — Mount Rainier High School (Des Moines)
- November 14 (Thursday) — 6 to 8 p.m. — Highline High School (Burien)
- November 16 (Saturday) — 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. — McMicken Heights Elementary School (SeaTac)
Our Take
Given the Port’s recent focus on being “The Greenest Airport In America”, we consider this a high point in cynicism. Everyone is following the rules. Everyone is sincerely trying to work within those rules. But notice that no one at that meeting questioned those rules. One can say that it is the FAA’s responsibility for not doing more. But since the Port of Seattle will benefit so greatly from the economic benefits of airport growth, this creates an intrinsic conflict of interest that they cannot or will not see past.
Growth?
Before the SAMP, the Port would insist that it did not control demand. That was never true. It has done everything possible to grow airport operations and it has been very successful in that regard, going from 17th to 8th largest airport in America in twelve years. For a short time post-COVID it was refreshing to hear the Airport acknowledge that desire to grow.
Now that the Draft EA has been published, it has re-started this untrue statement. They are not and never were responding to ‘organic regional demand’. This is extremely disappointing.
Property Tax Levy Presentation
Also discussed a proposed 2% increase to their Property Tax Levy. The Port uses that money in three broad manners:
- Community grants. A relatively small amount of the Tax Levy is used to fund all their grant programs, including the annual $1.4M ILA with the City of SeaTac.
- A larger amount is ongoing environmental mitigation for past bad acts, primarily the Duwamish Superfund cleanup. Zero of that is aviation community.
- Over two thirds every year is used to accelerate bond re-payments. The Port finances many of its major capital projects through billions of dollars in ongoing bond sales. Using $50M of this money every year to pay off those bonds early saves literally hundreds of millions in interest over time. A way to think of it is how much money a homeowner can save on their mortgage by paying even a few dollars extra every month.