Airport's Water Pollution Permit
Improved by Department of Ecology

The State Department of Ecology has issued a draft revision of the main water pollution permit for Sea-Tac Airport which includes greatly improved protection for the environment. Incorporating changes ordered by the state's Pollution Control Hearings Board, the draft was issued for public comment in mid-May.

Major changes include:

• a big reduction in the amount of de-icing fluids discharged into Puget Sound without treatment (98 percent, according to the permit writer, Ed Abbasi);
• recognition of Lake Reba & associated wetlands as “waters of the State”, entitled to full environmental protection;
• continued recognition of the so-called Northwest Ponds as “waters of the State” as well.

With Lake Reba listed as "waters of the State", the Port will now be required to measure potentially polluted discharges before they enter Lake Reba.

Details of the permit were reviewed in depth at the regular June meeting of Citizens Against Sea-Tac Expansion (C.A.S.E.) on 1 June, by Mr Abbasi and RCAA water-quality consultant Greg Wingard. The consensus was that the revised permit is a great improvement over all previous versions, & that the permit complies with the decision of the Pollution Control Hearings Board issued in October 2004, in an appeal of a prior version. C.A.S.E. President Brett Fish said, “This is the best permit that we've seen yet. The clean-up of glycols & de-icing fluids is a major win for the environment, particularly for Miller Creek, Des Moines Creek, & the Des Moines Marina area.” De-icing fluids are toxic to fish.

The next step is issuance of the revised permit in final form, after which it may be appealed to the PCHB. At this writing, the Port of Seattle has not announced whether it will appeal the permit. Each of the major changes in the permit will require the Port to incur new costs – charges for treatment of the glycol-contaminated wastewater, expenses in new monitoring of discharges into the Lake Reba complex of lake and wetlands. But the changes in the permit appear to be absolutely required by applicable law, regulations, & rulings of the PCHB, so the Port would have little to gain from an appeal, except more expense & conflict.

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