Notes

Pre-filed testimony submitted by Sally Nelson, Burien City Council member, on behalf of the Airport Communities Coalition (ACC) to the Pollution Control Hearings Board in case PCHB No. 01-160. The testimony introduces ACC and its member cities and school district, explains their stewardship responsibilities for local streams and watersheds, and argues that the Department of Ecology’s approval of the Port of Seattle’s Third Runway Project was driven by politics rather than science. Nelson contends that the neighborhoods slated for elimination were mature communities in co-existence with local waterways, and that their destruction is not synonymous with watershed restoration.

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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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