TagClean Water Act(23)

The Airport Communities Coalition (ACC) — representing the cities of Burien, Des Moines, Federal Way, Normandy Park, Tukwila, and the Highline School District — filed a formal appeal challenging Washington State's 2004 Clean Water Act certification for the Port of Seattle's proposed third runway at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The coalition argued that the certification violated Supreme Court mandates and water quality laws by allowing contaminated fill material to be used in construction, threatening nearby streams and wetlands. The appeal was submitted to the Pollution Control Hearings Board for the State of Washington.

In June 2004, the Washington State Department of Ecology granted a Water Quality Certification to the Port of Seattle for the construction of a third parallel runway at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac), along with related projects such as taxiways, navigational aids, and runway safety areas. The certification, designated Order #1996-4-02325 (Amended-2), was updated to reflect a Washington Supreme Court ruling and confirms that the project complies with applicable provisions of the Clean Water Act and state environmental laws. The approval is subject to conditions including compliance with hydraulic project approvals and stormwater permits issued by state agencies.

A May 2004 legal letter from Helsell Fetterman attorneys demands that the Port of Seattle and Washington State Ecology Department comply with a Washington Supreme Court ruling before proceeding with third runway construction at Sea-Tac Airport. The court imposed environmental conditions requiring that fill materials used in construction come only from uncontaminated sites, meet strict groundwater quality standards, and pass SPLP leachate testing against both surface and groundwater criteria. The letter argues that the Port's existing work plans and bid documents violate these court-mandated conditions, citing discrepancies such as the Port's allowable arsenic limit of 14.75 ug/L being several hundred times higher than the court-required 0.05 ug/L standard.

In a May 26, 2004 letter, Port of Seattle Senior Counsel Traci M. Goodwin notified attorney Peter Eglick that the Port planned to begin construction of a third runway at Sea-Tac Airport on or before June 7, 2004, following a Washington State Supreme Court ruling affirming Ecology's Clean Water Act certification. The letter references the case ACC v. Graves (9th Cir. No. 04-35011) and warns opposing counsel of the Port's construction timeline under Ninth Circuit Rule 27-3, which requires advance notice when a party may seek emergency relief within 21 days.

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 is a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) water discharge permit issued by the Washington State Department of Ecology to the Port of Seattle for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, effective October 1, 2003 through September 4, 2008. The permit governs how the airport is authorized to discharge industrial wastewater and stormwater runoff into surrounding water bodies, including Puget Sound, Des Moines Creek, Miller Creek, and Walker Creek. It sets out special conditions covering discharge limitations, monitoring requirements, toxicity testing, and operations and maintenance standards to protect water quality in the region.

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.

This is a library catalog page listing five legal and regulatory documents from 2003 related to environmental permitting and litigation. The documents include an NPDES water discharge permit (No. WA-002465-1) issued by the Department of Energy, and three entries related to a legal case (ACC v. Colonel Graves) involving a Section 404 appeal and motions for summary judgement filed through the Army Corps of Engineers. A comment letter on the NPDES Draft Permit is also catalogued.