TagWater Quality(478)

In this April 11, 2001 letter, Washington State Department of Ecology Director Tom Fitzsimmons responds to attorney Kevin Stock regarding concerns raised by the Airport Communities Coalition (ACC) about the Port of Seattle's proposed Third Runway. Ecology agrees to host a technical meeting with ACC experts to examine whether Third Runway infrastructure could create pathways for contaminants from the Airport Operations and Maintenance Area (AOMA) to proposed runway sites, but declines to halt the 401 water quality certification process pending completion of a separate groundwater study. Ecology assures the ACC that it will not approve or deny the Third Runway projects until a 'pathway' analysis addressing contamination concerns is completed.

Final draft meeting notes prepared by Rachel McCrea of Floyd & Snider Inc. from a April 4, 2001 technical meeting on low streamflow impact analysis for the Sea-Tac Airport Third Runway 401 Permit Decision-Making process. Attendees included representatives from Washington Dept. of Ecology (Ann Kenny, Kevin Fitzpatrick, Dave Garland), King County (Kelly Whiting), EarthTech (Rick

This 2001 draft report by Parametrix, Inc. describes a water quality study conducted for the Port of Seattle to assess the feasibility of meeting state water quality standards following construction of a third runway at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The study focused on developing a site-specific water-effect ratio (WER) for copper in Miller, Walker, and Des Moines Creeks by conducting toxicity bioassays on stormwater samples collected during storm events. The report summarizes results from initial screening and range-finding phases, with the final site-specific water quality standard still pending completion at the time of publication.

A 2001 internal memo from Parametrix, Inc. summarizes a conversation with the Washington State Department of Ecology (WADOE) about water toxicity testing procedures. The memo reports that WADOE opposes adjusting lab water hardness to match site water, recommending instead that storm water tests target the hardness of the receiving water body, typically 40–60 mg/L as CaCO₃. It also notes that low water hardness (around 10 mg/L) may cause chronic reproductive effects in certain test organisms but not acute toxicity.

Email from Ann Kenny to Raymond Hellwig, Erik Stockdale, and Katie Walter (cc: Jeannie Summerhays, Kelly Whiting), dated March 21, 2001, transmitting Floyd & Snider Inc. Meeting Notes Summary (AR 034794, ECY00012495, Exhibit 2208) covering Sea-Tac Airport Third Runway 401 Permit negotiations on wetland issues only, October 2 through December 8, 2000. The summary documents

A March 15, 2001 laboratory report from Columbia Analytical Services sent to John Strand of the Airport Communities Coalition, summarizing water quality test results from samples submitted on February 28, 2001. The report, assigned service request number K2101434, confirms all analyses were conducted under the laboratory's quality assurance program. It includes reference sheets defining technical acronyms and data qualifiers used in interpreting inorganic, metals, and organic test results.

Two 2001 Seattle Post-Intelligencer articles raise safety and environmental concerns about SeaTac Airport's proposed third runway. The first warns that a planned 15-story, 1,450-foot retaining wall built on weak, earthquake-prone soils could catastrophically fail in a seismic event, threatening wetlands and salmon-bearing streams. The second reveals that state officials approved a key water-quality permit for the runway without following their own attorney's advice to secure a water right, prompting the Airport Communities Coalition to appeal the permit and allege political pressure was driving the project forward.

A March 2001 letter from Water Resources Consulting LLC to the Washington State Department of Ecology raises concerns about a proposed NPDES permit modification for SeaTac Airport, arguing that the draft permit gives the Port of Seattle a 'blank check' to discharge pollutants at unspecified locations into unnamed water bodies without adequate public oversight. The letter also criticizes the airport's stormwater monitoring reports for obscuring potential water quality violations by mishandling hardness data used to evaluate dissolved metals concentrations. The author urges the Department of Ecology to require specific discharge locations and proper concurrent hardness reporting before issuing the modified permit.

Memorandum dated March 9, 2001, from Dave Garland, Ecology NWRO Water Quality Nonpoint Unit, to Kevin Fitzpatrick and Ann Kenny, reviewing the Earth Tech December 2000 report ‘Sea-Tac Airport Master Plan Update Low Streamflow Analysis.’ The memo evaluates HSPF streamflow modeling and supplemental analyses for Miller Creek, Walker Creek, and Des Moines Creek in connection

Memorandum dated March 9, 2001 from Dave Garland, Washington Department of Ecology NWRO Water Quality Nonpoint Unit, to Kevin Fitzpatrick and Ann Kenny, reviewing Earth Tech’s December 2000 ‘Sea-Tac Airport Master Plan Update Low Streamflow Analysis’ (Exhibit 2099, AR 033695–033697). The memo evaluates HSPF streamflow modeling for Miller Creek, Walker Creek, and Des Moines Creek