DEFENDERS OF HIGHLINE FOREST
MLK DAY – January 15, 2024
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Write us at info@defendersofhighlineforest.org
The Defenders urge an outpouring of support starting tomorrow morning (Jan 16) for:
Companion bills just introduced in Washington State’s legislature, HB 2103 and SB 5955, would require large Port districts to use tax funds to remediate deadly noise & air pollution impacts in communities near big airports – including by addressing forest loss.
Why is this proposed law game-changing? It offers a paradigm shift away from the failure of current law to protect the public. It would require – not just “authorize” large Port districts to use a certain percentage of the taxes they collect to mitigate the harm that large airports cause to people and communities. It goes beyond just the harm of noise – to also address air quality and loss of forest. It addresses outdoor – not just indoor – air. It requires large Ports to bring the assessment of the harm it causes out from behind closed doors – and meaningfully include the input of those most harmed to improve future plans.
The Defenders – and the general public – have not had much time to analyze this bill. We do have at least one suggestion for improvement, as you’ll see below. But, on this Martin Luther King Day, it is clear that this law, if enacted, will represent an important step forward – for health and for justice – for those living in the contamination zone around SeaTac Airport where, as reported by Public Health Seattle & King County, “the majority of people in King County identifying as Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander live,” where, the closer you get to the airport, the higher the levels of pollution, rates of death from all causes, hospitalization, poverty, and near poverty – and where research links a wide range of harmful heatlh impacts to the presence of the airport.
Please consider taking action – see our suggestions below.
<HELP THIS BILL BECOME A REALITY
“Mitigating Harm and Improving Equity in Large Port Districts”
Two companion bills: House Bill 2103 and Senate Bill 5955
House Sponsors: Representatives Tina Orwall (33rd Legislative District), Joe Fitzgibbon (34th LD), Mia Gregerson (33rd LD), Sharon Tomiko Santos (37th LD), and Kristine Reeves (30th LD)
Senator Sponsors: Senators Karen Keiser (33rd Legislative District), Claudia Kauffman (47th LD), Bob Hasegawa (11th LD), Joe Nguyen (34th LD), and Claire Wilson (30th LD)
- Find out if your legislators are sponsoring this bill (check if any of the sponsors listed above represent you at the Washington State Legislature District Finder)
- Use or adapt any or all of our sample message (see below) – or create your own!
- Follow the instructions at the legislative links provided below to send your comments in writing and/or to provide spoken comments in person or remotely:
1. Comment in writing at any time
Extra helpful if you can do this on or before Tuesday!
- Senate Bill 5955: https://app.leg.wa.gov/pbc/bill/5955
- House Bill 2103: https://app.leg.wa.gov/pbc/bill/2103
2. Comment in person or remotely at Tuesday’s hearings
Sign up by one hour before the hearing/s at which you plan to comment
- Senate Bill 5955: 8 AM (sign up between now and 7 AM tomorrow) https://app.leg.wa.gov/csi
- Choose Senate
- When page reloads, select the Local Goverment, Land Use & Tribal Affairs committee
- Choose the meeting time 1/16/24 8AM
- Choose SB 5955 Large Port Districts and select your type of testimony (in person, remotely)
- House Local Government Committee 10:30 AM (sign up between now and 9:30 AM tomorrow) https://app.leg.wa.gov/csi
- Choose House
- When page reloads, select the Local Goverment committee
- Choose the meeting time 1/16/24 10:30 AM
- Choose HB 2103 Large Port Districts and select your type of testimony (in person, remotely)
Thank you for sponsoring (House Bill 2103 //or // Senate Bill 5955), “Mitigating Harm and Improving Equity in Large Port Districts”.
When writing to legislators who have not sponsored this legislation:
I am writing to urge you to become a co-sponsor of House Bill 2103 //or // Senate Bill 5955, “Mitigating Harm and Improving Equity in Large Port Districts” and to actively support the passage of this bill.
When providing comment/testimony:
I am writing/speaking to thank the sponsors of (House Bill 2103 //or // Senate Bill 5955), “Mitigating Harm and Improving Equity in Large Port Districts” and to urge all legislators to become co-sponsors of this bill and to actively support its passage.
This important law offers a paradigm shift away from the failure of current law to protect public health. It would require – not just “authorize” large Port districts to use a certain percentage of the taxes they collect to mitigate the harm that large airports cause to people and communities. It goes beyond just the harm of noise – to also address air quality and loss of forest. It addresses outdoor – not just indoor – air. It requires large Ports to bring the assessment of the harm it causes out from behind closed doors – and meaningfully include the input of those most harmed to improve future plans.
A requirement in this proposed law that, (if applicable: as someone who lives near SeaTac Airport,) I find particularly important and positive, is that it requires large Port districts to fund “programs to provide urban forest or green space within an impacted area.” I would ask that this key element of the bill, the only one in the bill that I understand to address outdoor air quality, be strengthened to require not just the provision of forest and green spaces – but, first, the protection and expansion of existing trees, forest, and green spaces.
Research shows both that trees significantly improve human health in urban areas and that large-diameter trees can capture more toxic particulates, store “disproportionally massive amounts of carbon,” and “fulfill a variety of unique ecological roles” that newly-planted trees and forests cannot. (Large Trees Dominate Carbon Storage in Forests East of the Cascade Cres in the United States Pacific Northwest David Mildrexler, et al. Front. For. Glob. Change, 05 November 2020 Sec. Forest Management Volume 3 – 2020)
Preservation and expansion of existing forest is a key mitigation step to protect public health near large and busy airports. This bill’s recognition of the importance of forests for our community is, for me, one of its most forward-looking and pathbreaking provisions.
Sincerely,
Senator Karen Keiser, lead sponsor on the Washington State Senate version of the proposed new law, “Mitigating Harm and Improving Equity in Large Port Districts” appears on the right in this photo taken at the June, 2023 Aviation Town Hall in Des Moines. To her left are Representative Tina Orwall, lead sponsor of the House version of this bill, Port of Seattle Commissioner Hamdi Mohamed, and US Representative Adam Smith.
info@defendersofhighlineforest.org.