September 28, 2000August 2, 2026

EXH AR018381: Letter from Ecology to Port Of Seattle Regarding § 401 Water Quality Certification Withdrawal for Third Runway

Notes

Letter dated September 28, 2000 from Tom Fitzsimmons, Director of Washington State Department of Ecology, to M.R. (Mic) Dinsmore, Executive Director of Port Of Seattle, responding to Port Of Seattle’s withdrawal of its Clean Water Act § 401 Water Quality Certification application for the Third Runway project at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Ecology outlines conditions for future § 401 Certification approval including stormwater management plan (SMP) revisions addressing deficiencies identified by King County review, flow control for Miller Creek, Walker Creek, and Des Moines Creek, protection of Tyee Pond, excavation of Borrow Site #3, Hydraulic Project Approvals from Department of Fish and Wildlife, and consistency with the Natural Resources Mitigation Plan (NRMP). Ecology commits to completing review within sixty days upon Port reapplication. AR018381–AR018383.

Sidebar On/Off

As the source for federal transportation grants, the Puget Sound Regional Council was charged with developing a system to meet the growing need for commercial aviation. When the search for a second airport failed, they authorized the Port of Seattle to build the Third Runway, with a mandate to develop a noise abatement and mitigation program. In their effort to stop the Third Runway, the ACC argued over every detail of the Port's efforts--including property buyouts and sound insulation. The dispute was meant to be settled by a three member Expert Arbitration Panel. This is their final report. It finds 2-1, that the Port's program was insufficient in several respects. Despite that, funding for the Third Runway was approved by the PSRC, and the 'Port Package' program, proceeded largely unchanged. Expert Arbitration Panel's final decision finding that the Port of Seattle had not shown sufficient reduction in real on-the-ground noise impacts to satisfy noise reduction conditions required for approval of a third runway at Sea-Tac International Airport. The majority decision concluded the Port's noise abatement programs were insufficient despite being impressive in scope.

continue...

V V

Notes

Message