Major 3rd-runway work may start this summer

By J. Martin McOmber
Seattle Times business reporter

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most e-mailed articles

The Washington State Supreme Court settled one of the last major legal challenges in the fight to build a third runway at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, clearing the way for now to start major construction on the $1.2 billion project this summer.

The unanimous 40-page decision, released yesterday, was a blow to opponents, who have fought against the project for more than a decade over environmental issues. The Port of Seattle, which runs Sea-Tac, blamed the strategy in part for causing years of delay and doubling the price of one of the costliest runway projects in the nation.

"This is a very good opinion for the Port," said Linda Strout, the Port's deputy director and chief attorney. "We feel this is the final state court opinion and it will allow us to move forward."

But the Airport Communities Coalition (ACC), which has led the legal fight to stop the runway, said it did not come away empty-handed, forcing some more-stringent environmental conditions. The group will continue hammering the Port in court, vice chairman Stuart Creighton said.

"Can we drag them into court every week? Yes, we can," he said. "Can we appeal the decision? No. But if they think they're off the hook, they're not. If they think they can get by with not following the rules, they can't. If they think this gives them a free pass, it doesn't."

Yesterday's decision could affect the ACC's only remaining legal challenge, which is pending before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Arguments in that case probably won't be scheduled until the fall, but the ACC could ask the judges to halt the runway project until the appeal is settled.

In the meantime, the Port is planning to award a two-year, $192 million contract this summer to begin filling the wetlands that have been at the heart of the legal challenges. A local consortium of companies, TTI Inc., will begin trucking in the dirt needed to fill the 150-foot-deep canyon west of the airport for the new runway.

Barring any more delays, the new runway could open in 2008 — nearly 20 years after airport officials raised the idea.

Sea-Tac officials say the airport needs a third runway to prevent delays during bad weather. The two existing runways are 800 feet apart, forcing airplanes to line up single file when landing during cloudy weather. The third runway would allow two separate lines.

Airlines, which would pay for much of the runway through higher landing fees, have largely supported the project. And the Federal Aviation Administration is considering a request from the Port of Seattle to nearly double the $216 million it has earmarked for the project.
 
Coalition opposes project

But from the start, the runway has faced opposition from nearby communities. Strout said the Port has spent more than $9 million successfully fighting 22 lawsuits.

The ACC, a coalition of the Highline School District and cities near the airport, has fought the runway expansion since it was proposed, charging the project was unnecessary and would harm the area's environment.

The Supreme Court case stemmed from the permits needed under the federal Clean Water Act to fill in nearly 22 acres of wetlands west of the airport. The state Department of Ecology approved the runway project in 2001, but the ACC appealed the decision to the state's Pollution Control Hearings Board.

The board conducted its own review and added 16 conditions it said were necessary to protect nearby streams and make up for the loss of the environmentally sensitive lands.

The Port — which is adding or enhancing 178 acres of wetlands for the runway project — argued some of the conditions were difficult if not impossible to meet, and, along with the Department of Ecology, took the case to the state Supreme Court.

The justices sided with the Port on nearly every major issue, Strout said. Most importantly, they approved the type of test the Port will use to tell if fill dirt meets environmental standards.

"I'm not seeing that they prevailed on anything significant," Strout said of ACC.

The Department of Ecology, which issued a written statement yesterday, agreed.

"The court affirmed that ... there is reasonable assurance that the project will not violate Washington's water-quality standards," the statement read. "We are ready to move forward in overseeing the construction of this new runway at SeaTac Airport."

Next stop: federal courts

Creighton said the ACC did win on points involving more-stringent water-quality standards and testing procedures.

"They got rid of things they really did not want, but we got to keep things we really wanted," he said. "It might make the Port happy on one level, but makes us happy on another level."

The legal fight now moves on to the federal courts, where the ACC is challenging a related wetland permit issued by the Army Corps of Engineers. A district court ruled in favor of the Port in that case, but the ACC hopes the decision will be overturned on appeal.

Airport officials figure yesterday's decision will trim about $15 million in design changes from the runway's cost, and save $25 million in legal bills and inflation if the project were delayed another year.

Since 1997, when the airport won approval from the FAA to build the runway, the cost has grown from $587 million to $1.2 billion, and completion has been pushed back from 2004 to 2008.

Much of the increase involves the environmental costs of the project, including litigation and design changes. In a letter to the FAA, the Port said the cost of replacing wetlands and protecting water quality has grown from $26 million in 1997 to $143 million today.

Seattle Times staff reporter Susan Gilmore contributed to this report.

J. Martin McOmber: 206-464-2022 or mmcomber@seattletimes.com