Notes
City of Burien letter to Port of Seattle Aviation Environment and Sustainability (Steve Rybolt) dated December 11, 2024, submitting formal comments on the Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP) Draft Environmental Assessment for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport during the October 21–December 13, 2024 comment period. The City argues the SAMP has significant defects requiring a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) rather than an EA, citing: an unrealistically small General Study Area/Area of Potential Effect drawn tightly around the airport campus; failure to assess cumulative impacts from the SR-509 Gateway project (WSDOT), which will route 164,400–195,600 vehicles daily through Burien and provide a new southern airport entrance; omission of the 2008 third runway opening as a past action baseline, representing a 48 percent increase in aircraft operations over pre-third-runway levels; disregard for ultrafine particles (UFPs), Public Health–Seattle and King County 2020 legislative report, and Washington Department of Commerce 2020 study on SEA impacts; and reliance on outdated Day Night Level (DNL) noise metrics despite FAA Reauthorization Act 2024 and Acoustical Society of America research. References NEPA 40 CFR 1508.7 cumulative impact definition, Landrum and Brown consultant conclusions, and SAMP Tables 4.6 and 4.8 on carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide emissions.