TagMiller Creek(252)

This document assesses the ecological functions of wetlands and aquatic resources in the Miller Creek and related basins near Sea-Tac Airport, evaluating their roles in water quality, flood storage, and wildlife habitat. Wetlands in the Runway Safety Area and Vacca Farm areas are rated across functions such as nutrient trapping, groundwater exchange, and habitat for fish, waterfowl, amphibians, and small mammals. The assessment finds that interconnected wetland complexes like Lake Reba provide high-value flood attenuation and baseflow support for Miller Creek, while farmed wetlands perform at lower functional levels due to sparse vegetation and agricultural runoff.

This document explains the regulatory approval process required for filling wetlands as part of Sea-Tac Airport's third runway expansion, which requires both a federal permit under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and a state certificate under Section 401. The Port of Seattle filed its third application in October 2000 after two previous attempts failed, facing significant environmental obstacles including contaminated fill material, threats to stream flow and salmon habitat, destruction of nearly 20 acres of wetlands, flooding risks, embankment stability concerns in an earthquake-prone area, and existing pollution levels that already exceed allowable limits. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must also weigh the public need for the project against these environmental harms, raising broader questions about whether the expansion is justified at all.

This document classifies and describes the various wetland types found within the Sea-Tac Airport project area, using both the Cowardin (1979) and Hydrogeomorphic (HGM) classification systems. It identifies forested, scrub-shrub, emergent, aquatic bed, and riverine wetlands across three drainage basins — Miller Creek, Des Moines Creek, and Walker Creek — listing the specific wetland units belonging to each category. The classifications support environmental impact assessment and mitigation planning associated with airport development activities.

This document analyzes the environmental impacts of construction projects at a north airfield area on wetlands and waterways in the Miller Creek Basin. It details how filling approximately 2.75 acres of wetlands and 980 linear feet of Miller Creek will affect water quality, hydrology, fish habitat, wildlife, and plant communities. It also describes a compensatory mitigation plan at the nearby Vacca Farm site, where Miller Creek will be relocated and wetlands restored to offset the project's ecological losses.

This document summarizes the environmental wetland impacts associated with airport expansion projects near Sea-Tac Airport, detailing acreage affected across four creek basins — Miller Creek, Walker Creek, Des Moines Creek, and Green River. It breaks down impacts by wetland vegetation type (forested, shrub, emergent, and open water) and hydrological classification (depressional, riverine, and slope), with total impacts ranging from 4% of the Walker Creek project area to 100% of the Green River area. The tables also distinguish between temporary and permanent wetland impacts as determined by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, covering features such as the Third Runway and Runway Safety Area extensions.

The Airport Communities Coalition filed an emergency motion asking the Washington Supreme Court to block the Port of Seattle from filling wetlands and rerouting Miller Creek in preparation for a third runway at Sea-Tac Airport. The Coalition argued that the Pollution Control Hearings Board's order is legally binding on the Port and the Department of Ecology, and that the Port cannot alter the site's status quo while the appeal is pending. The motion sought an injunction to preserve existing conditions until the court issued a final ruling on whether the project complies with state water quality standards.

This legal brief was filed before Washington State's Pollution Control Hearings Board by community groups challenging a stormwater discharge permit issued to the Port of Seattle for Sea-Tac Airport. The groups argue that Lake Reba, a detention pond on airport property, should be protected as a 'water of the state' and that the permit unlawfully fails to regulate or monitor the airport's industrial stormwater discharges from Lake Reba into Miller Creek. The appellants contend that, unlike other waterways affected by the airport, Lake Reba's discharge point was not even identified as an outfall, leaving it subject to no effluent limits, monitoring, or reporting requirements.

These Accounts Payable Vendor Master List records from the City of Burien, Washington, document payments made to the Airport Communities Coalition (ACC) between 2002 and 2004, totaling over $547,000 across the three years. The payments, drawn primarily from account 001-03-513-11-41-41C, represent quarterly and annual contributions related to Sea-Tac Airport noise policy advocacy and community planning efforts. Additional charges cover technical work such as Miller Creek Basin Plan modeling and review services.

The Port of Seattle's August 2020 commission meeting addressed a proposal to enter into an interlocal agreement with the City of Burien to fund the Miller Creek Culvert Replacement project, which aims to remove failing culverts that block fish passage and restore stream habitat. The project, led by the City of Burien, had completed planning, design, and permitting, with construction scheduled for Summer 2021, but faced a funding shortfall requiring Port involvement. The Commission had previously passed a motion in November 2019 to advance the project, which focuses on environmental restoration rather than airport noise policy.