Citizen Comment MUST be submitted to the Port of Seattle by 4 pm on Thursday, September 11, or the Port will not accept it.
This is an updated version of a Sept. 8 story with additional information.
Every five years, the Port of Seattle targets trees in their definition of the flight corridor for removal that they claim pose hazards to airplane activity. The zone they use, as noted on the informative website Seatac Noise Info, is
“1,500 feet east and west and 3,500 feet north and south of the runway protection zones. This sweep covers residential yards, city parks, school properties, cemeteries, and wetlands in Burien, Des Moines, and SeaTac.”
This is hard to visualize, so we strongly suggest looking at the map on Seatac Noise. See all the red? That’s where the trees get cut. Yes, some are in private yards, in parks (including Mathison Park in Burien), and on slopes that drain into waterways.
The Port is both project applicant and project reviewer. In their role as reviewer, under SEPA rules, they are declaring there is “No Significant Environmental Impact” from removing around 220 trees. The Port declared this in a filing of August 21 that was released “quite quietly,” to be diplomatic.
When an organization declares there’s no impact, then the organization does not have to file Environmental Impact Statement.
When an organization has a long-term plan, but implements it in pieces, hiding the true nature of the long-term plan, and getting away with no EIS, is much easier to do. The Port’s long-term plan has so far resulted in removal of 1,100 trees in 2014, 174 in 2019, and now another proposed 220 this year. Note that the construction of Highway 509 is also resulting in additional removals of hundreds of trees in the same area, but since the project is done by a different branch of government, the Port doesn’t have to account for the cumulative impacts of tree removal.
Due to the very short notice, we did not have time to contact the Port staff and ask for additional information about tree planting plans, impacts on water quality, groundwater, air quality, toxics, noise, or other areas. But their claim there’s “No Significant Environmental Impact”… might be worth commenting on. As included in the Sept. 8 story, send comments as follows:
Thursday, Sept. 11, 4:00 PM – Final deadline to submit written comments to the Port of Seattle on tree removal plan: SEPA@portseattle.org.
Is anyone else cynical about the timing of a major announcement in the last week of summer, with comments due right after Labor Day?
One Response
The Port of Seattle is a very deceiving organization. They lied about the 3rd runway use as well as just about every other project done. No over sight is done.