Sea-Tac International Airport’s third runway opens on November 20, 2008.

By Kit Oldham Posted 11/29/2008 HistoryLink.org Essay 8855 On November 20, 2008, the new third runway at Seattle-Tacoma (Sea-Tac) International Airport opens to scheduled air traffic when an Alaska Airlines flight takes off for Denver following a dedication ceremony. The 8,500-foot-long runway is the culmination of more than 20 years of planning, construction, and controversy.

Jolly Entertainers: The Draper Children’s Home Band (King County)

By Peter Blecha Posted 11/09/2008 HistoryLink.org Essay 8833 In 1907 Herman M. Draper (1858-1927) and his wife, Annie Draper (1860-1927), founded a privately run orphanage, the Children’s Industrial Home and Training School — initially in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood and later in the nearby town of Des Moines. A gifted music educator, Draper formed an all-children

The Ethyl-Poisoned Earth

Long-Form: Chronically catastrophic chemist Thomas Midgley accidentally poisons the world with a neurotoxin, and Clair Patterson tries to stop him. Written by Alan Bellows • Non-Fiction • December 2007 Thomas Midgley At the turn of the twentieth century, as the age of automobiles was afoot, the newfangled gasoline-powered internal combustion engine began to reach the limitations of the fuel that fed it. As

The Pits

Maury Island has the gravel Sea-Tac’s runway needs. It also has arsenic-laden soil, a vulnerable aquifer, and some very worried islanders. By Eric Scigliano • October 9, 2006 12:00 am IF THIS STORY HAD APPEAREDtwo weeks ago, you might have thought it an April Fool’s hoax. Consider: A Japanese-owned sand-and-gravel company plans (in stages) to strip-mine 235

Toxic Runway

Piles of dirt pose problems for Sea-Tac. By Roger Downey AT A MEETING OCTOBER 4, it looked as though the two-year war between the Port of Seattle and the state Department of Ecology might be over. Port planners acknowledged their failure to answer important questions about plans for a third runway for Sea-Tac International Airport. Ecology staff

Seattle Times: State rebukes Port of Seattle for 3rd-runway water pollution

For years, the Port of Seattle has promised that construction of a massive third runway at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport wouldn’t hurt surrounding streams and would actually be a boon to the environment. But since October, a string of oversights, accidents and intentional actions at the airport has allowed millions of gallons of muddy, oily or