Appellants Airport Communities Coalition, Citizens Against Seatac Expansion, and Puget Soundkeeper Alliance's joint motion for partial summary judgment

Environmental groups challenged the validity of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport's wastewater discharge permit, arguing that it failed to require the Port of Seattle to use all known and reasonable methods to treat pollution from aircraft deicing fluids. The permit allowed largely untreated industrial wastewater containing high levels of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) from glycol-based deicing chemicals to be discharged into Puget Sound, despite the Port's own recommendation for full biological treatment. The groups sought a ruling to invalidate the permit and force regulators to reissue it in compliance with state and federal environmental law.

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Joint motion for partial summary judgment filed by Airport Communities Coalition, Citizens Against SeaTac Expansion, and Puget Soundkeeper Alliance before the Pollution Control Hearings Board, arguing that Sea-Tac International Airport’s NPDES Permit No. WA-002465-1 is invalid. The appellants contend the permit fails to require the Port of Seattle to implement AKART (all known, available, and reasonable methods of preventing, controlling, and treating pollution) for industrial wastewater contaminated with biochemical oxygen demand-inducing glycols discharged into Puget Sound. The motion asserts that Ecology improperly used mixing zone dilution to excuse the Port from fully applying AKART, which is illegal under three provisions of Washington State law.

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