Sea–Tac Airport Facing Water-Pollution Permit Hearings in November

Word from the Department of Ecology is that hearings will probably be scheduled for the latter half of November in the Highline area to receive public comment on Ecology’s draft of an updated, and critical, water-pollution permit for Sea–Tac Airport.

Ed Abbasi, of the Bellevue office of Ecology, has been working on a revised permit most of this year, and it is almost ready for release. Progress has been delayed by a huge volume of comments submitted by the Port of Seattle, most of which appear aimed at overturning the environmental requirements put on the third–runway project by the Pollution Control Hearings Board in a recent order.

The NPDES permit) is required by sec. 402 of the federal Clean Water Act. Such permits must be renewed every five years. The idea behind these permits is that existing water pollution will be ratcheted downward every five years by new, more stringent conditions, until pollution is entirely eliminated. The permit now under consideration is especially important because it is the vehicle for turning the recent order of the Pollution Control Hearings Board into enforceable, ongoing permit language. The provisions of a sec. 402 permit can be enforced by private lawsuits in Federal court, and substantial penalties and attorney fees are awarded against permit-holders who are found in violation of their permits.

A Seattle-based group, Waste Action Project, has successfully sued the Port for permit violations in years past, and WAP and Citizens Against Sea-Tac Expansion (C.A.S.E.) have just begun the process for filing suit against the Port for a new violation. The private lawsuit is perhaps the strongest and fastest tool for enforcing the Clean Water Act.

RCAA and C.A.S.E. are closely monitoring this renewal. RCAA will immediately issue an e–mail bulletin & post a web notice when the date, time & place for hearings are set.