LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Airport advisory leaders urge residents to speak out about Sea-Tac expansion

[EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is a Letter to the Editor, written and submitted by a verified resident. It represents the opinion of the author, and does not necessarily reflect the views of South King Media or its staff.]

Dear Neighbors:

You will have the chance this week to engage with personnel from the Port of Seattle about their proposed expansion of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

The Port is conducting four open house-style events:

• 6-8 p.m. on Monday, June 22 at Glacier Middle School in SeaTac
• 6-8 p.m. on Tuesday, June 23 at Mount Rainier High School in Des Moines
• 6-8 p.m. Thursday, June 25 at Wildwood Elementary School in Federal Way;
• 10 a.m.-Noon on Saturday, June 27 at Gregory Heights Elementary School in Burien.

We urge you to attend. These events can be a little overwhelming, with lots of stations covering different aspects of the proposed expansion. Much of the material is technical. Don’t fall into the trap of trying to absorb it all. Don’t feel like you have to leave a formal comment, which you will have the option to do. 

Instead, take this chance to tell the Port of Seattle how living close to one of the busiest airports in the world affects you and your family. Take this chance to challenge the Port staff and commissioners on their conclusion that a 30 per cent increase in takeoffs and landings—which this expansion will mean—will have “no significant impact” on the surrounding communities.

You may hear about things that sound good, like the Port’s efforts to expand the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel. But remember that widespread use of SAF is literally decades away. Our neighbors are suffering now from noise and air pollution that make us sicker and damage the value of our homes. 

Make no mistake: The airport is a huge money-maker for the Puget Sound. But very little of the economic growth the Port likes to talk about actually comes back to the communities that pay the heaviest price for that growth.

In our experience, the Port has become used to telling people in the airport-impacted cities what it thinks is best for them. It is not very good at listening, or having conversations about what people really need—like a properly funded program to replace the thousands of noise-mitigating “Port packages” that have failed over the years.

This week, you have a chance to help change that dynamic by showing up and telling the Port of Seattle that you’re not buying what they’re selling. You have a chance to demand that the Port quit playing the bureaucratic games that allow it to say with a straight face that this major expansion will have “no significant impact.” You have the chance to demand that the Port finally address, in a meaningful way, the damage the airport does here.

– Joe Dusenbury, Chair, Des Moines Airport Advisory Committee
– Brian Davis, Vice Chair, Burien Airport Committee

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