TagAirport Communities Coalition(272)

Motion for Voluntary Dismissal filed by Mark C. Rutzick on behalf of petitioners Airport Communities Coalition (ACC), City of Des Moines, City of Normandy Park, City of Burien, City of Federal Way, City of Tukwila, and Highline School District No. 401 in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Case No. 00-70848. Petitioners sought dismissal under

An independent wetland scientist, writing on behalf of the Airport Communities Coalition, raised concerns with the US Army Corps of Engineers about potential mapping errors affecting Wetland 44a near the proposed SR509 Temporary Interchange for Sea-Tac Airport's Third Runway project. The letter warned that discrepancies between engineering drawings and actual field conditions could mean the wetland was closer to the construction zone than documented, risking illegal filling or sediment discharge into protected wetlands. The scientist urged the Corps to verify the wetland's true location and review erosion control measures before approving any construction permits.

Port Of Seattle response to agency and public comments on Section 404 Clean Water Act permit application (JARPA, permit 1996-4-02325) for Master Plan Update improvements at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Document AR050378 covers comments received following the December 27, 2000 second revised public notice issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Responds to Tom Luster,

In this March 30, 2001 letter, attorney Kevin L. Stock of Helsell Fetterman writes to Washington State Department of Ecology Director Tom Fitzsimmons on behalf of the Airport Communities Coalition, confirming agreements reached at a March 27 meeting regarding Sea-Tac Airport expansion. The letter asserts that Ecology's 1999 Agreed Order with the Port of Seattle must be fulfilled before a Section 401 water quality certification can legally be issued, and confirms Ecology's commitment to hold a follow-up technical meeting with key staff and legislators present. The ACC argues that strong scientific and legal grounds preclude issuing a defensible 401 certification until the Port completes its obligations under the Agreed Order.

A March 15, 2001 laboratory report from Columbia Analytical Services sent to John Strand of the Airport Communities Coalition, summarizing water quality test results from samples submitted on February 28, 2001. The report, assigned service request number K2101434, confirms all analyses were conducted under the laboratory's quality assurance program. It includes reference sheets defining technical acronyms and data qualifiers used in interpreting inorganic, metals, and organic test results.

Following the Nisqually earthquake of February 28, 2001, GeoSyntec Consultants wrote to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Washington State Department of Ecology raising serious concerns about the seismic safety of the proposed Third Runway expansion at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The letter highlighted that the earthquake caused damage to mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls and widespread liquefaction despite being only a moderate event, reinforcing earlier warnings about flaws in the project's seismic design criteria and ground motion analysis. GeoSyntec argued that the airport's role as a regional emergency lifeline demands higher safety standards than those applied to ordinary residential structures.

Two 2001 Seattle Post-Intelligencer articles raise safety and environmental concerns about SeaTac Airport's proposed third runway. The first warns that a planned 15-story, 1,450-foot retaining wall built on weak, earthquake-prone soils could catastrophically fail in a seismic event, threatening wetlands and salmon-bearing streams. The second reveals that state officials approved a key water-quality permit for the runway without following their own attorney's advice to secure a water right, prompting the Airport Communities Coalition to appeal the permit and allege political pressure was driving the project forward.

A March 2001 letter from Water Resources Consulting LLC to the Washington State Department of Ecology raises concerns about a proposed NPDES permit modification for SeaTac Airport, arguing that the draft permit gives the Port of Seattle a 'blank check' to discharge pollutants at unspecified locations into unnamed water bodies without adequate public oversight. The letter also criticizes the airport's stormwater monitoring reports for obscuring potential water quality violations by mishandling hardness data used to evaluate dissolved metals concentrations. The author urges the Department of Ecology to require specific discharge locations and proper concurrent hardness reporting before issuing the modified permit.

A March 9, 2001 letter from law firm Helsell Fetterman, representing the Airport Communities Coalition (cities of Burien, Des Moines, Federal Way, Normandy Park, Tukwila, and the Highline School District), demands that Washington State Department of Ecology enforce a 1999 Agreed Order requiring the Port of Seattle to complete groundwater contamination studies at Sea-Tac Airport. The coalition argues that the Port has failed to finish required groundwater flow and contaminant transport studies — originally due December 1999 — and that Ecology cannot legally certify the third runway project under the Clean Water Act without this data. The letter also requests a State Auditor review of how the Port spent grant money provided by Ecology to fund those studies.

A March 8, 2001 laboratory report from Columbia Analytical Services sent to John Strand of the Airport Communities Coalition in Richland, WA, presents water quality monitoring results (project 00-101B) from samples submitted on February 20, 2001. The report includes standard data qualifiers and acronym definitions used to interpret inorganic, metals, and organic analytical results. All analyses were conducted under the laboratory's quality assurance program.