Barbara Hinkle’s new job is the talk of five suburban cities in South King County.
Hinkle was a senior environmental program manager at the Port of Seattle, where she spent 10 years overseeing environmental studies and permit applications for building a third runway at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
But in early July she quit the port and went to work for one of the agency’s harshest critics — a coalition of local governments that has battled the third runway for years.
Hinkle is now working on contract for the city of Des Moines and the Airport Communities Coalition, which includes Des Moines, the Highline School District and the cities of Burien, Tukwila, Federal Way and Normandy Park.
“There is a mindset within the organization that doesn’t want to accept that,” Hinkle said. She declined, however, to provide examples of projects where the port did its environmental homework but cut corners.
Naturally, coalition members are thrilled to have Hinkle on their side. She came to the group with inside information about the runway project and the port. Hinkle also gave the coalition a chance to score some points in its rhetorical war with the agency; the coalition announced Hinkle’s defection with a press release.
“We’re all just people,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what side you’re on.”