State Legislation 2025 (draft)

State legislative sessions are a flurry of hundreds of bills, all of which live or die within a 105 day window. We forget that State legislators are part-timers, often with days jobs, and many with only a single staffer. They will only ever read a handful of the bills they are being pitched. Our list of items always tries to follow four simple rules: understandable, cost-effective, impactful, and above all, short.

Three ways to make an impact in Olympia this year Update (2024-12-05): The City of Des Moines has adopted these three items as its official legislative agenda. Thanks! #1. Fixed Site Air Quality Monitor In Des Moines Establish a fixed-site monitor around Sea-Tac Airport to monitor the south end of the flight path in Des

SAMP Draft EA: Our running list of questions

The one thing we hear over and over from community members re. the SAMP Draft EA is “What do I say?” “How do I get started?” We get it. One way we want to help is to provide some of our questions, which we’ll be updating frequently before submitting our full comment before the December

The Cost/Benefit Analysis

The 1994 DNL65 from the Third Runway overlaid on the 2024 SAMP Area of Potential Effect (APE) How can 30 years of growth yield no more noise, air quality or community mitigations?

Beyond the usual suspects in the SAMP Draft EA Comment Period During the Sustainable Airport Master Plan Draft EA Comment Period (SAMP) we know most people will focus on the noise and pollution. However, we also hope that readers, and especially cities, will focus on other areas which may prove just as useful in obtaining

SAMP Draft EA: How to provide a great public comment

1How to provide effective public comment by December 13, 2024 Because new ways for you to participate will likely become available, this article may be subject to updates. Introduction This is the second of a two-part article concerning the Sustainable Airport Master Plan Draft Environmental Assessment (SAMP Draft EA). If you’re looking for the short

We’d like some answers

10 questions for the Port of Seattle Many people concerned about all the flights from Sea-Tac Airport rightfully think about “making the planes go somewhere else.” Changing the flight paths. That matters. But while we’re working on that,  we should also focus on a much easier task, which we don’t focus on: doing what we

SAMP NTP Comment Process

31 projects in 45 days? The SAMP Draft EA documents are now available here: The Sustainable Airport Master Plan Near Term Projects (SAMP NTP) is a collection of 31 construction projects that will increase flights over the next decade by as much as a new runway, but without building a new runway. The environmental review