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.

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 for the cities that have funded the anti-third-runway work to date. Des Moines, for example, expects a $3 million shortfall in tax revenues in 2005. The last two remaining legal appeals against environmental permits for the runway were deemed to have little chance of success. Thus, the decision to withdraw those appeals & to end the costly courtroom work was almost inevitable, according to observers in the Highline area.

One legal case is still ongoing - the review of the Airport's general water-pollution permit (“NPDES” or “sec. 402” permit) before the Pollution Control Hearings Board. This appeal primarily concerns ongoing second runway pollution and meeting the requirements affirmed by the State Supreme Court in earlier appeals on the third runway. The basic appeal of that permit was filed by the Port. C.A.S.E then filed a cross-appeal, relying on contributions from members of the public. Although the ACC has withdrawn its name from that cross-appeal, ACC contributed no funding to support it. ACC has not announced how it plans to oversee environmental benefits gained through their previous legal actions.

Wasteful Project Lacks Critical Funding

RCAA commented, in a news release, that the proposed runway “is still an incredibly wasteful project that does nothing to meet the future air transportation needs of the Puget Sound. The Port of Seattle still does not have the funding to finish the project – they still are short something like $700 million. The airlines still do not want to pay their fair share of the project.”

The most recent, best estimate of constructions costs is $1.3 billion (up from an original estimate of $229 million). Port financial documents point to a huge shortfall in funding – estimated at $700 million by RCAA. Tenant airlines at the Airport have been saying loudly that they cannot be expected to meet these costs from their revenues. The Federal Aviation Administration has indicated that in future years it could make an additional grant of $61.9 million. The only evident source of funding is Port-issued bonds – backed by future increased real-estate taxes throughout King County. Whether the Port has the ability to repay several hundred million dollars in runway bonds is very much in question. For more on runway financing, see companion article.

RCAA, like other airport-concern groups in King County, remains firmly committed to the goal of a new, state-of-the-art regional airport, with adequate buffer areas to protect other folks from airplane noise & air pollution.

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