TagSteve Edmiston(19)

The League of Quiet Skies Voters (LOQSV), a Seahurst, WA-based organization focused on aviation noise and its impacts on health and the environment near Sea-Tac Airport, sent a candidate questionnaire to 2019 election candidates on July 4, 2019. The letter invited candidates to share their positions on aviation expansion, human health, and environmental concerns, with responses to be published before the primary election if submitted by July 19, 2019. LOQSV described itself as an advocate for communities neighboring the 8th busiest airport in the United States.

The Aviation Advisory Committee (AAC) held a meeting on March 25, 2019, where members discussed upcoming election-cycle voting forums related to the StART Committee and received a legislative update via a conference call with Legislative Advocate Anthony Hemstad. The meeting, attended by three committee members and four city staff, including City Manager Michael Matthias, lasted from 4:32 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. with no public comment. The next scheduled AAC meeting was set for April 22, 2019.

The Des Moines Aviation Advisory Committee met on December 10, 2018 to discuss next steps following the submission of scoping comments for the Airport Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP), including plans to bring consultants before the Committee and Council. The City outlined roughly $97,000 in active aviation-related programs covering environmental review, an airport impacts study, and an ultra-fine particle research study conducted by the University of Washington. The Committee agreed that measuring the airport's impact on the surrounding community and securing mitigation funds should be top priorities going forward.

The Aviation Advisory Committee met on June 11, 2018 to discuss concerns about SeaTac Airport's proposed expansion under the Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP). Key actions included recommending the City send a letter to the Port of Seattle requesting a community open house with public Q&A, and reviewing a draft messaging framework to present to City Council on June 14. The committee also discussed hiring consultants to help the four cities in the Inter Local Agreement identify the best ways to be heard in the SAMP process and address related environmental and noise impacts.

The Des Moines Aviation Advisory Committee met on May 14, 2018 to discuss several Sea-Tac Airport-related issues, including a recommendation to send a letter to the FAA urging the hiring of Community Engagement employees, an update on the city's consultant search ahead of the Port's Strategic Airport Master Plan (SAMP) scoping process, and a review of a draft framework letter focused on improving community engagement throughout the environmental impact process. The committee also discussed Hush House noise-reduction technology potentially coming to Sea-Tac Airport and noted upcoming events including a Port-hosted Open House on the Airport Master Plan and a Noise 101 workshop for START members.

In January 2018, Des Moines resident and filmmaker Steve Edmiston addressed the Port of Seattle Commission, arguing that a prior FAA briefing on NextGen flight procedures omitted critical information about health harms from aircraft noise, nationwide community opposition, lawsuits against the FAA, and related legislation. Edmiston announced a project to deliver the full, fact-based briefing the Commission originally requested, presenting his information in two-minute public comment segments over an estimated 10 months. His goal was to push the Port to move beyond what he called 'selective environmentalism' and make better-informed decisions about the human and environmental costs of expanded flight operations at SeaTac Airport.

In September 2017, Des Moines, WA resident Steve Edmiston sent a certified letter demanding that the Port of Seattle and the FAA stop increased flight operations over his historic Woodmont neighborhood, arguing that no avigation easement had ever been granted over his property. He cited a dramatic rise in aircraft noise, vibrations, fumes, and nighttime flights linked to expanded use of Sea-Tac's third runway and new navigation procedures, noting that commercial operations at the airport had nearly doubled since 2003. The letter also included a formal public records request for documents related to flight procedure changes made after February 14, 2012, and outlined legal grounds under which affected homeowners may still seek damages despite general noise liability limitations.

Residents of Federal Way, Washington wrote letters to their local mirror newspaper in June 2017 expressing frustration over increasing airplane noise from Sea-Tac Airport, citing quadrupled noise and emission impacts, the need to wear earplugs indoors and outdoors, and calling for a second regional airport at Everett's Payne Field. Former Federal Way City Council member Linda Kochmar, drawing on her decade of experience with the Airport Communities Coalition, urged South Sound mayors to pressure the state legislature and congressional delegation to act. The letters were written in response to a columnist who had minimized residents' concerns, and collectively call for greater media and government attention to the environmental and quality-of-life impacts of the FAA's 2017 Long Range Plan for expanded flight operations.