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Pollution Control Hearings Board (PCHB) Order in case PCHB 01-160 denying Airport Communities Coalition (ACC) motion to redact portions of pre-filed testimony of Paul Fendt. ACC argued the testimony violated the February 28, 2002 discovery cut-off order by including discussions and work on the Low Flow Plan conducted between February 12 and February 19, 2002, delivered March 6, 2002. Board found the material not clearly violative of its earlier order and found no intent to hinder ACC’s hearing preparation. Respondents are State of Washington Department of Ecology and Port Of Seattle; intervenor is Citizens Against Sea-Tac Expansion (CASE). Presiding officer Kaleen Cottingham signed the order.

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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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