TagAirport Communities Coalition(272)

In a October 2000 letter to the Port of Seattle, Water Resources Consulting LLC — writing on behalf of the Airport Communities Coalition — raised concerns about the SeaTac Aircraft Hydrant Fueling System project, arguing that construction should be delayed until an ongoing groundwater contamination study under the Model Toxics Control Act was completed. The letter criticized the project's environmental review (Declaration of Nonsignificance) for lacking specific details about leak detection, operating pressures, and contaminated soil management. The consultant warned that deep utility trenching could create preferential flow paths for existing fuel contaminant plumes, potentially threatening the groundwater supplies relied upon by nearby communities.

A fisheries biologist assessed the Port of Seattle's plan to use City of Seattle drinking water to boost summer flows in Miller and Des Moines Creeks when levels drop below 1.0 cubic feet per second. The report concludes that chlorine and fluoride in drinking water are toxic to fish and other aquatic life at very low concentrations, and that mixing drinking water into these small streams would far exceed Washington State water quality standards even with dilution. The biologist recommended against the plan and suggested that treated well water from within the local watersheds might be a less harmful alternative.

This court docket covers a 2000–2001 federal appellate case (No. 00-70848) in which Airport Communities petitioned the Ninth Circuit to review a Federal Aviation Administration decision related to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The petitioner sought a stay pending review, while the Port of Seattle moved to dismiss the case on jurisdictional grounds, arguing the petition was not filed in time. The court ultimately denied the stay and the motion to dismiss without prejudice, directing all parties to address jurisdictional issues in their merits briefs.

A fisheries biologist hired by the Airport Communities Coalition assessed the potential environmental impacts of a temporary SR-509 interchange construction project near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, concluding that the project posed serious risks to fish and wetland resources in Walker Creek. The report found that proposed erosion control measures, such as silt fences and whattles, were grossly inadequate given the steep terrain (slopes of 40–60%) adjacent to Wetlands 43 and 44, and that sediment-laden stormwater runoff containing metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons would likely reach these sensitive areas. The biologist also criticized the Port of Seattle and its contractor, Parametrix, Inc., for failing to conduct fish species inventories and for providing little documentation to support their claim that no significant wetland impacts would occur.

A May 2000 laboratory report from Columbia Analytical Services, Inc. presents water and sediment quality monitoring results for the Airport Communities Coalition in Richland, Washington. Samples were collected on April 19, 2000, and analyzed for metals, ammonia, pesticides, semivolatile organics, and other contaminants as part of project OO-101G. Two samples arrived broken and unusable, and one sediment sample showed elevated background components affecting Toxaphene reporting limits, though no major anomalies were found in the remaining analyses.

Northwest Hydraulic Consultants submitted follow-up technical comments in May 2000 raising serious concerns about flawed stormwater modeling used to assess the impact of a proposed third runway at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The consultants identified major inconsistencies in soil-type assumptions and runoff parameters in the hydrologic models, concluding that the Stormwater Management Plan's predictions of detention facility performance were unreliable and required a complete overhaul. The letter also flagged a lack of adequate local regulatory oversight to ensure that Port of Seattle stormwater designs complied with King County surface water standards.

A technical review by Northwest Hydraulic Consultants, submitted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Washington State Department of Ecology in May 2000, raises serious concerns about the stormwater management plan for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport's proposed third runway. The report identifies major flaws in the hydrologic modeling used to assess drainage impacts, including inconsistent soil-type assumptions and unreliable flow predictions for Miller Creek. The consultants call for a complete overhaul of the modeling process, independent technical review, and clearer regulatory oversight of the Port of Seattle's stormwater design work.