TagAirport Communities Coalition(69)

In 2004, John Rothnie, the Port of Seattle's Airfield Program Manager, filed a declaration opposing a request to block construction of a third runway at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac). The declaration outlines the Port's years of planning efforts, including obtaining required environmental certifications and developing a detailed Work Plan to ensure fill materials used in the runway embankment met strict water-quality standards. The Port had been moving forward with the expectation of beginning construction in 2004, following approval from the Washington Department of Ecology and the Pollution Control Hearings Board.

This document is a Declaration by attorney Gillis E. Reavis filed in the Supreme Court of Washington in a case where the Port of Seattle challenged the Pollution Control Hearings Board, Airport Communities Coalition, and Citizens Against SeaTac Expansion. The declaration opposes a motion for injunctive relief and attaches excerpts from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Record of Decision for a Port of Seattle Section 404 wetlands permit (1996-4-02325), which covers environmental reviews under the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, and other federal statutes related to airport expansion. The underlying dispute centers on regulatory approvals for Sea-Tac Airport development and its environmental impacts on surrounding communities.

In this 2004 declaration filed with the Washington Supreme Court, Robin V. Kordik, a Senior Environmental Program Manager for the Port of Seattle's Aviation Division, describes efforts to identify wetland mitigation sites near Sea-Tac Airport in connection with the airport's Third Runway construction project. A study by environmental firm Parametrix assessed 89 potential mitigation locations but concluded that no suitable new sites were available in the affected sub-basins that met the Pollution Control Hearings Board's criteria for sustainability and public safety. The declaration was submitted in opposition to a motion for injunctive relief brought by the Airport Communities Coalition.

This 2004 declaration by Michael Feldman, Deputy Managing Director of the Port of Seattle's Aviation Division, was submitted to the Washington State Supreme Court in opposition to a motion for injunctive relief filed by the Airport Communities Coalition. Feldman, who oversaw technical, environmental, and regulatory compliance at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac), describes the airport's Master Plan — adopted in 1996 — which includes the addition of a third runway and other facility expansions to address growing regional air travel demand. The declaration provides context for the decade-long planning and environmental review process behind Sea-Tac's expansion efforts.

The Port of Seattle filed this legal response opposing an emergency request to halt construction of a Third Runway at Sea-Tac Airport. The case centers on a water quality certification issued by Washington's Department of Ecology, which set environmental conditions the Port must meet under the federal Clean Water Act. After years of hearings and appeals — including reviews by the Pollution Control Hearings Board and a federal district court — the Port argued that construction should be allowed to continue as planned.

This 2004 legal declaration, filed before the Washington Supreme Court, supports the Airport Communities Coalition's emergency request to halt construction at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport's Third Runway. Attorney Peter J. Eglick argues that the Port of Seattle's approved Work Plan for embankment construction and wetlands filling would cause irreparable environmental harm and violate a Pollution Control Hearings Board order. The filing includes exhibits documenting concerns about contaminated fill materials and requests that the Department of Ecology intervene to stop construction while the case remained under court review.

The Airport Communities Coalition (ACC) asked a federal court to reconsider its ruling that allowed the Army Corps of Engineers to issue a wetlands fill permit for a Port of Seattle project. ACC argued the court overlooked a December 2001 Washington State Pollution Control Hearings Board order that effectively blocked the required water quality certification within the legally allowed one-year window, which under the Clean Water Act should have prevented the permit from being granted.

A federal court ruled in favor of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Port of Seattle, rejecting a legal challenge by the Airport Communities Coalition — a group of cities near Sea-Tac Airport — over a Clean Water Act permit issued in December 2002 for the airport's Third Runway Project. The permit authorizes filling approximately 50 wetlands with over 23 million cubic yards of material to support construction of a new 8,500-foot runway. The court found the Corps' decision was not arbitrary or capricious under the Administrative Procedures Act's standard of review.

The State of Washington filed a friend-of-the-court brief in a 2003 federal case concerning the Port of Seattle's proposed third runway at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The case centered on whether the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was required to include all conditions set by the Washington State Department of Ecology in its Clean Water Act Section 404 permit, after a state appeals board added sixteen conditions to the original water quality certification. Washington argued that federal law gives states sole authority to enforce their own water quality standards on federally permitted projects, and that the Corps improperly ignored nine of those sixteen conditions.