TagWashington State Supreme Court(4)

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.

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.

In April 2004, the Airport Communities Coalition asked the Washington Supreme Court to halt construction work on a controversial Sea-Tac Airport runway expansion, arguing that long-standing environmental issues — including concerns about fill contamination and damage to creeks and wetlands — needed to be resolved first. The Port of Seattle maintained that a recently passed state law (SSB 5787) allowed it to proceed with certain work, such as rechanneling Miller Creek, even while the court case was still pending. Coalition attorney Peter Eglick filed a supporting declaration attaching a Seattle Post-Intelligencer article in which the Port's Aviation Director confirmed plans to begin work as early as May or June 2004.