Notes
Confidential discussion draft press release (01-138 DRAFT, dated August 9, 2001) from Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) announcing approval of Port Of Seattle’s 401 water-quality certification permit under the federal Clean Water Act to construct a third runway at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The permit includes conditions covering stormwater management (15 major ponds and vault facilities, including one 88 acre-feet underground vault), wetland protection (201 acres total, including a new 60-acre wetland near the Green River in Auburn), mitigation of low flows in Des Moines, Miller, and Walker creeks (three salmon-bearing creeks), and screening of 20 million cubic yards of fill for contaminants. Governor Gary Locke and Ecology Director Tom Fitzsimmons and Regional Director Ray Hellwig are quoted. This is the third permit application; prior applications were declined or withdrawn in 1998 and September 2000. The Port agreed to fund three to five Ecology staff positions to oversee compliance. AR 017830–017831.