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Academic paper by Richard R. Horner, Derek B. Booth, Amanda Azous, and Christopher W. May (University of Washington Center for Urban Water Resources Management) on watershed determinants of ecosystem functioning in the Puget Sound Basin. Studies 31 stream reaches on 19 low-order streams and 19 palustrine wetlands over multi-year periods, examining effects of urbanization and impervious surface cover on benthic macroinvertebrates, fish, water quality, flow, and physical habitat. Key finding: steepest biological decline (B-IBI) occurs as total impervious land cover increases from 0 to 6 percent; stream B-IBI drops from above 35 to below 20 as imperviousness reaches 45 percent. Discusses riparian zone protection, modified hydrology, sediment transport, salmonid habitat, and management strategies for lowland watersheds.

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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.

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