TagSupreme Court Of Washington(13)

The Airport Communities Coalition (ACC) filed an emergency motion asking the Washington Supreme Court to temporarily halt construction of a proposed third runway at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. ACC sought to prevent the Port of Seattle from filling wetlands and the Department of Ecology from approving embankment construction while the court's decision on related appeals remained pending. The motion was prompted by reports that the Port planned to begin depositing fill material in April, before the court had issued its ruling.

This declaration, filed before the Washington Supreme Court, was submitted by environmental scientist Dyanne Sheldon in support of the Airport Communities Coalition's emergency request to halt any construction or environmental changes at the Sea-Tac Airport expansion project site. Sheldon, who has over 20 years of wetland ecology expertise and helped establish King County's first wetland management program, argues that the wetlands at the project site cannot be recreated or adequately compensated for if destroyed. The motion asks the Court to maintain the status quo while appeals of a Pollution Control Hearings Board order are decided.

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.

Dr. Stephen L. M. Hockaday, a Professor Emeritus of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with over 25 years of airport and airspace planning experience, submitted this declaration in support of the Airport Communities Coalition's emergency motion for injunctive relief before the Washington Supreme Court. The case involves the Port of Seattle, the Pollution Control Hearings Board, and the Washington Department of Ecology in a dispute related to Sea-Tac Airport expansion. Dr. Hockaday's credentials include serving as Head of Eurocontrol's airspace and airport modelling service and managing major FAA programs at the nation's ten busiest airports.

The Airport Communities Coalition (ACC) filed an emergency motion seeking to stop the Port of Seattle from moving forward with its Third Runway Project without complying with conditions set by the Pollution Control Hearings Board. This supplemental brief, submitted to the Washington Supreme Court, addresses whether the Administrative Procedure Act's stay provisions apply to ACC's request to enjoin the Port from violating the Board's order. ACC argues that the relevant APA provisions do not directly govern its motion, but that an injunction is especially warranted because the Port failed to obtain a stay of the Board's order.

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.