January 1, 2023July 31, 2026

HEAL progress report: Seeding the culture and building the structures for a Just Transition through Washington’s landmark law on environmental justice

This progress report from Front and Centered evaluates Washington State's HEAL Act, a landmark environmental justice law, assessing how state agencies are implementing requirements such as community engagement plans, environmental health disparities mapping, and funding structures. The report focuses on protecting frontline communities of color from compounding environmental, climate, and economic harms. Note: this document does not address Sea-Tac Airport noise policy and is unlikely to be relevant to that specific topic area.

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This progress report by Front and Centered evaluates implementation of Washington State’s HEAL Act, a landmark environmental justice law. It reviews completed work including governance and funding structures, priority community mapping, community engagement plans, and environmental justice implementation plans. The report also outlines upcoming requirements under the HEAL Act and looks ahead to future environmental justice work.

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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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