TagNPDES(21)

This archive documents a long history of water pollution discharged from Seattle-Tacoma (Sea-Tac) Airport into nearby waterways, dating back to 1948. It includes Discharge Monitoring Reports filed by the Port of Seattle showing high concentrations of glycol and other chemicals flowing into local stormwater systems and ultimately Puget Sound, as well as historical letters from the 1950s describing fish kills in Miller Creek and Des Moines Creek caused by airport runoff. The records reveal decades of regulatory correspondence between the Port of Seattle and Washington State pollution authorities over inadequate waste disposal practices.

The Puget Soundkeeper Alliance challenged the 2003 water discharge permit issued to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, arguing that the Port of Seattle had been releasing harmful pollutants — including aircraft de-icing fluids — into Puget Sound without proper treatment or enforceable limits for nearly a decade. The group contended that Washington State's Department of Ecology improperly extended the airport's compliance deadline beyond the legally allowed 10-year period, pushing it from 2004 to 2007. The case centered on whether the permit violated both Washington State law and the federal Clean Water Act.

In 2003, Washington State's Department of Ecology issued a water pollution permit (NPDES No. 002465-1) for Sea-Tac International Airport, which was then challenged by multiple parties including the Port of Seattle and several community groups. The appeals, heard in July 2004, centered largely on concerns about aircraft deicing and anti-icing chemicals being discharged into Puget Sound and nearby waterways, where they can deplete dissolved oxygen levels critical to aquatic life. The Pollution Control Hearings Board reviewed the permit's terms and conditions to determine whether adequate environmental protections were in place.

This document is an NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permit fact sheet for Sea-Tac International Airport, issued by the Washington State Department of Ecology. It details the locations of numerous water discharge outfalls across the airport property, covering industrial wastewater, stormwater from industrial activities, and stormwater from construction activities. The discharges flow into several local waterways including Des Moines Creek, Miller Creek, Walker Creek, Gilliam Creek, and Puget Sound.

The Port of Seattle filed a pre-hearing brief challenging aspects of a 2003 water pollution permit issued by Washington State's Department of Ecology for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac). The permit, considered one of the most stringent stormwater permits in the country, sets numeric water quality limits, requires extensive toxicity testing, and mandates upgrades to the airport's stormwater and wastewater management systems. The brief addresses a range of contested issues, including effluent limits, sampling requirements, and construction stormwater controls.

This document is a draft National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) waste discharge permit issued by the Washington State Department of Ecology to the Port of Seattle for Sea-Tac International Airport. It governs the discharge of treated industrial wastewater into Puget Sound and stormwater runoff into nearby waterways including Des Moines Creek, Miller Creek, and Walker Creek. The permit sets effluent limits, monitoring requirements, and reporting obligations to protect water quality in the receiving waters.

This NPDES permit fact sheet for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport details the locations and receiving waterways for all stormwater and industrial wastewater discharge outfalls at the facility. It covers three categories of discharge: industrial wastewater flowing to Puget Sound, stormwater from industrial activities flowing to local waterways such as Des Moines Creek, Miller Creek, and Northwest Pond, and stormwater from construction activities discharged to Des Moines Creek, Miller Creek, Walker Creek, and Gilliam Creek. The document lists both existing and future planned outfall locations with precise latitude and longitude coordinates for each discharge point.

In August 2005, the Port of Seattle and Citizens Against SeaTac Expansion (CASE) jointly wrote to the Washington Department of Ecology presenting a unified position on proposed changes to the NPDES wastewater permit for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The two parties collaborated to resolve disputed permit conditions — covering issues such as BOD discharge limits and pipeline compliance schedules — and categorized each comment as requiring a permit change, a response only, withdrawal, or unresolved. Both parties agreed not to appeal any permit modifications that fell within the mutually agreed categories, aiming to avoid litigation while achieving a workable final permit.

The Washington State Department of Ecology issued this draft addendum to address shortcomings in the NPDES wastewater discharge permit for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, following a ruling by the Pollution Control Hearings Board. The document outlines required changes to how the Port of Seattle manages contaminated wastewater from aircraft deicing operations, including stricter pollution limits, improved treatment standards, and enhanced water quality monitoring of nearby waterways such as Miller Creek. The revisions focus on reducing harmful biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) discharges into Puget Sound and ensuring the Port implements all available pollution control measures as quickly as possible.

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.