Notes

Dr. Patrick Lucia provides a second declaration supporting the Airport Communities Coalition’s motion for a stay of the Section 401 Certification issued to the Port of Seattle for the Third Runway embankment project at Sea-Tac Airport. The declaration argues that the Department of Ecology lacks reasonable assurance that fill material used in the embankment meets environmental criteria, specifically challenging the allowed soil concentrations of arsenic and other metals as exceeding Puget Sound natural background levels. Lucia also critiques the Port’s sampling protocol as arbitrary and unscientific, arguing it fails to meet accepted environmental engineering standards.

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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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