TagTruth in Aviation(12)

The Newsletter of the Regional Commission on Airport Affairs Vol.5, No. 4 Summer 1999 INININININ BRIEFBRIEFBRIEFBRIEFBRIEF Third Runway Costs Jump Another 31% “Our Clueless Port Commission ” –An editorial view page 5 Seattle Okays Downtown Float Planes On 17 June, two Downtown condo- minium associations and the State ferry system filed appeals against a permit granted on 27 May by the City to Kenmore Air for a float plan base at Pier (Ivar’s) on the Downtown Seattle waterfront. Operations are limited to flights by certain non-piston aircraft, with a tem- porary ban on sight-seeing flights. Only on Sunday is there a night-time curfew. Day-time take-offs must occur at least 2000 feet off-shore. Evening take-offs must occur 3000 feet off shore. No float planes may land closer than 1000 feet. The ferry system is concerned about safety hazards, and the condo-owners, about noise. Boeing Field Choppers Although it has yet to present its Master Plan to the King County Council, KCIA management proposed in June to sign a 29-year lease with Classic Helicopters to expand their facilities at Boeing Field. “They are doing this backwards,” pro- tested Seattle Commission on Airport Affairs President Mike Rees. “They are signing the long-term leases, then mak- ing the plan, and finally studying the noise and pollution. This effectively cuts citizen participation out of the planning process.” Nevertheless, the lease was pushed through the King County Council’s Commerce, Trade and Eco- nomic Development Committee by its chair Dwight Pelz and later adopted by the full…

The Newsletter of the Regional Commission on Airport Affairs Vol. 6, No. 4 Spring 2001 IN BRIEF �������� ��� �������� ���� ��� ������������ �� Not once, not twice, but three times, the Port of Seattle, owner-operator of Sea-Tac Airport, has sought official permission to destroy wetlands with its third-runway construction project west of the existing airport. And three times the community has turned out in great strength to tell the regulat- ing agencies that this is a bad idea—bad for the environment, bad for people—and wasteful. Each of the first two applications had to be withdrawn, re-written, and resubmitted, because of fatal flaws. On 26 and 27 January, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Ecology held hearings on the latest proposal submitted by the Port. Hundreds of residents in attendance heard nearly one hundred speakers tell the agencies about their concerns with the proposal. Most of the 117 speakers were in opposition, citing numerous is- sues—airport safety, damage to local streams, con- cerns with the environmental mitigation plans, lack of community mitigation, and, over and over again, the problems posed by the four vertical embank- ment walls. —Against— In their five-minute comments, a stream of residents and local elected officials carried a few basic messages to the two regulatory agencies. * The environmental planning is questionable and incomplete in many details, especially as to ���������� ��� ��� ���� ���� ������� �� ���� �� �������� �� �� �������� ������ ���� ��� ��� ��� ���� ��� �� �������� �…

Plans of the Port of Seattle to bring contaminated fill to the third-runway embankment site may result in a major delay in resuming work on the project. ...more Sea-Tac's New Water-Pollution Permit Plainly Unlawful, Citizens' Groups Tell Pollution Control Hearings Board Two citizens' groups have told the Pollution Control Hearings Board that the recently-issued water-pollution permit for Sea-Tac Airport is plainly illegal. They have asked the Board to make a finding to that effect as a matter of law, before the hearing scheduled for mid- July. ...more Temporary Closure of McChord AFB May Send Additional Flights to Boeing Field McChord Air Force Base plans to shut down its flight operations for the month of August to allow construction crews to complete repairs to the 10,100 runway, according to a news article in the News Tribune on April 15. An Air Force spokesman said that all “commercial aircraft will be redirected to Boeing Field for the duration of the project”. ...more Sea-Tac's North Terminal Project Shelved; Light-Rail Extension to Airport Garage Planned Sea-Tac Airport planners have abandoned the proposed $3 billion North Terminal project. Airport spokesman Bob Parker told Truth in Aviation , “You can quote me as saying that the north terminal is gone." ...more U.S. DOT Orders Demand Management At O'Hare To Reduce Delays On April 21, U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta announced new reductions in United and Sea-Tac Airport August 2003 from the north The runway to the west is the new taxiway. Mounds of earth to…

Meeting on Wednesday, December 8, the Executive Board of the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) called on the State government to take the lead role in planning for a second major airport to serve the Central Puget Sound. The Board pledged its support for new State legislation to produce a State-wide plan for long-term air-transportation capacity. Sen. Karen Keiser (D., 33) introduced such legislation at the 2003 legislative session & intends to introduce similar legislation in the regular session that begins in January. The Board's resolution recognizes the need to “supplement” Sea-Tac Airport & also recognizes that transportation plans for the next 25 years do not contemplate any additional runway “beyond the third runway”. All of this is a rather bureaucratic way of saying, once again, that a second major airport is needed to serve the needs of the Central Puget Sound, and the State as a whole. High-Speed Rail Enters the Picture At the strong urging of Newcastle City Councilmember Sonny Putter (representing smaller cities in King County), the Board added language to the resolution to recognize the need for high-speed inter-regional “ground transportation” (rail). Mr Putter made the point, & Board members agreed, that to be successful a new major airport would need high-speed rail connections to the major population centers. In the past, the PSRC has given lip service to the idea of a high-speed rail system on the route Eugene, Oregon, to Vancouver, B.C. However, there has been very little thought given to accomplishing such a…

--Citizens Stand Firm Against Third Runway As Lawsuits End --Backgrounder: Why the Runway Project Is a Financial Quagmire --Neighbors Say: “Runway Is Not Needed” --Backgrounder: Environmental Reasons Why This Is a Bad Project --Backgrounder: Why Third Runway Is So Unfair --Editorial: Breaking Sea-Tac's Monopoly Citizens Stand Firm Against Third Runway As Lawsuits End Citizen opposition to the Sea-Tac Airport third runway project remains unchanged, after the withdrawal of the last city- funded legal challenges to environmental aspects of the project on August 17, according to RCAA's President Larry Corvari. “The third runway is still a lousy idea, & the vast majority of people in the Highline communities remain opposed to it. Nothing has changed to make this proposal more acceptable,” he said. See below Paine Field, Everett The same message came from Airport neighbors in attendance at the of Citizens Against Sea-Tac Expansion meeting on September 1. “Our members were disappointed that there will be no more City-funded legal challenges,” said Brett Fish, C.A.S.E. president, “but they are very aware that the project is still in deep trouble on the financing side, & that the runway's impacts are not being mitigated. "We have no intention of giving up the fight. And we will strongly urge the ACC cities to take an active part in ensuring that the Port strictly follows all the requirements in its environmental permits.” Airport Cities Face Budget Crunch, Withdraw Last-Hope Appeals Fall-out from the repeal of the motor-vehicle excise tax has resulted in severe budget crises…

Truth In Aviation, Newsletter of the Regional Commission on Airport Affairs--Feb, 2006 Feb 14, 2006 Vol. 14, No. 1 Dept. of Ecology Reports Eight Violations of Water Quality Rules At Sea-Tac in Two-Month Period According to the Department of Ecology, Port of Seattle contractors violated the water-quality rules for Sea-Tac Airport on eight different occasions between 13 October & December. The results were discharges of muddy or contaminated water into Lake Reba, Miller Creek, Walker Creek, & the wetlands of Walker Creek. Most of the violations happened at the third-runway site. ...more RCAA Calls for Co-operative Efforts To Prevent Water-Quality Violations At Third-Runway Construction Site The Regional Commission on Airport Affairs has called for fast action by Sea-Tac Airport and the Department of Ecology to prevent additional environmental damage to local streams & wetlands from side effects of Airport construction. ...more Are Fines Enough? Ecology Calls For More Action by Port of Seattle Fines totaling $101,000 have been assessed against the Port of Seattle for the water-quality violations that are detailed in other places in this newsletter. But is the fear of fines a sufficient incentive to prevent future violations? The Department of Ecology apparently thinks not. ...more Port of Seattle Not Happy With Construction Problems Port of Seattle officials have sent mixed messages about the recent series of water-quality violations at Sea-Tac. Deputy Airport director Michael Feldman was quoted by the Seattle Times as saying “When we have these kind of incidents, I think they [the communities] have every…

On July 8, attorneys for the Airport Communities Coalition (ACC) filed an appeal with the Pollution Control Hearings Board, seeking review & correction of the revised sec. 401 certificate issued by Ecology for third-runway construction as the result of the earlier Supreme Court decision. ...more Supreme Court Sets New Rules for Third-Runway Work On May 14, the State Supreme Court released its decision in the appeals of the Port of Seattle, Airport Communities Coalition (ACC), and Citizens Against Sea-Tac Expansion (C.A.S.E.) from various parts of an earlier ruling of the Pollution Control Hearings Board on water-quality requirements for the proposed third-runway at Sea-Tac Airport. Several of the restrictive conditions imposed by the Board were overturned by the high court, while others were upheld. ...more Ecology Issues Flawed Sec. 401 Certificate & Revised Order On June 9, the Department of Ecology issued a revised sec. 401 certificate for third-runway work in wetlands. Ecology also revised its order that spells out in detail the restrictions & conditions imposed on that construction work. These revisions were supposed to implement the Supreme Court's ruling of May 14, but runway opponents quickly found that important parts of that ruling were not included. ...more Port Financial Staff Has No Concrete Plan For Financing Third-Runway This Issue: Blaming Your Own Bad Planning on the Neighbors The area outlined in red is the approximate area of the third runway fill. The area outlined in yellow is fill brought in during the past five years—approximately 5 million cubic yards…

The Newsletter of the Regional Commission on Airport Affairs Vol. 7, No. 2 Fall 2001 IN BRIEF On August 10 the state Department of Ecology (DOE) issued a Section 401 water quality certifi- cation for the third runway project. This is the third attempt by the Port to get its 401 approval. This process has been watched with concern by people in the airport communities ever since DOE reassigned the lead analyst, Tom Luster, to “more pressing projects”, hired Port consultants as “inde- pendent” technical reviewers, and “negotiated” the certificate in meetings chaired by a mediator paid for by the Port. (See TIA Summer 2001, p.5.) The Airport Communities Coalition (ACC) has ap- pealed the decision and asked for a stay. The hear- ing on the stay is scheduled for mid-October 2001, but no schedule for the main appeal has been set. The 401 decision is a one-time opportunity for the State to determine whether the third runway meets applicable state aquatic resource regulations. These regulations cover areas such as fill, stormwater discharges, decreased streamflow, groundwater, water quality in the streams, and wetland health. By law, the Port must demonstrate that there is “reasonable assurance” that construc- tion and the third runway itself will not violate State water quality standards. Affidavits from experts in support of ACC’s ap- peal point out that the Port did not even provide the information necessary to decide if applicable water quality standards could be met, much less reasonable assurance that they would be met.…

The Newsletter of the Regional Commission on Airport Affairs Vol. 6, No. 3 Fall 2000 ����� ��� ����� ������ �������� ������������� As most readers know, on 28 September the Port of Seattle formally withdrew its second appli- cation to the Department of Ecology and to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for official approval to destroy wetlands west of the present Airport, and to relocate part of Miller Creek, for its third- runway project at Sea-Tac Airport. Under the federal Clean Water Act, the De- partment of Ecology is charged with determining whether an applicant’s plan to build in wetlands provides “reasonable assurance” that State water- quality criteria will not be violated. The Corps of Engineers then determines whether the harm to wetlands is “in the public interest” and otherwise in compliance with the Clean Water Act. Without approval from the two agencies, the Port cannot legally proceed with its third-runway construction work in the wetlands. The best way to understand what has happened is to review the chronology. September 1999. The Port submitted its second application to the Corps and Ecology, after having to withdraw its 1997 application because of gross under-statement of the amount of wet- lands involved. Ecology had 365 days to pass on the application. The Engineers had previously an- nounced that they would not decide till after Ecol- ogy had finished its work. Spring & Summer 2000. Port of Seattle sub- mitted voluminous revised documents, attempt- ing to justify the plan, some as late as…

The Newsletter of the Regional Commission on Airport Affairs Photo of “clean fill” taken Wednesday, August 9, 2000 on S. 192nd Street, near the entrance to the Tyee Golf Course. See story, p. 4 Photo credit: C hris G ow er Top Environmental Specialist Leaves Port, Joins ACC Staff On 5 July, Barbara Hinkle, Senior Envi- ronmental Manager at Sea-Tac Airport, re- sponsible for environmental oversight on all Airport expansion plans (including the third runway) left that job to join the staff of the Airport Communities Coalition, which is lead- ing the legal fight against Sea-Tac expansion. Ms. Hinkle became disenchanted with the mindset within the Airport staff toward the environmental rules that airport construction. She was quoted as saying that the Port does not follow through on its own environmental studies. Pressure from above to “get the job done”, regardless of environmental conse- quences and applicable laws, was cited as a major factor in Ms Hinkle’s leaving the Port. She said, “the pressure to put aside environ- mental concerns is growing, and with the number of projects coming on-line over the next several years, I can be more effective at the ACC, for the environment, that I ever could be at the Port of Seattle”. Announcing her employment change to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, she commented that she “could no longer work within a system that continually turned a deat ear toward its obligation of public steward- ship.” The federal courts have been asked to order a halt…