The Port of Seattle Commission heard sharply divided testimony Thursday, July 9, as elected officials, residents, labor organizations, business groups and environmental advocates weighed in on the Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP) near–term projects Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Sea-Tac International Airport.

The special public hearing focused exclusively on comments for the environmental review of the proposed airport expansion. Speakers from Burien, Des Moines and SeaTac repeatedly urged commissioners to strengthen mitigation for airport adjacent communities, while business organizations, airlines and labor unions argued the expansion is necessary to meet growing regional demand and support the economy.

Burien Leaders, Residents Share Thoughts

“This expansion will exacerbate public health dangers that correspond with high intensity aircraft traffic,” Burien Mayor Sarah Moore told commissioners. “Your obligations also include protecting the people on whose backs and in the air above whose homes you are building this wonderful success.”

Moore added that a 30% increase in flight operations at Sea-Tac Airport will have significant negative impacts on the citizens of Burien and on the city itself.

“It will put more pressure on our infrastructure,” she said. “It will further accelerate a cycle of economic blight that Burien has experienced since the third runway opened in 2008.”

Burien City Councilmember Sam Mendez argued the Draft Environmental Impact Statement overstates the economic benefits to Burien while minimizing the city’s environmental and economic burdens. Citing figures from the report’s economic analysis, Mendez said Burien receives a small share of airport related jobs and tax revenue despite experiencing significant impacts from aircraft operations.

Councilmember Rocco DeVito focused on health, noise and air quality, saying the Port’s assessment “simply does not track with the experience of our residents living beneath the flight path.” He criticized the Port and FAA for not addressing ultrafine particles and said current noise standards are inadequate. “I doubt you all would accept this report if you were living underneath the flight path.” He called on the Port to work with communities to lobby federal officials, fund ultrafine-particle studies, and commit to noise and health mitigation.

Jeff Harbaugh, a Burien resident who said he has worked for relief from airport impacts for nine years as a member of the Burien Airport Committee and START, challenged the draft review’s finding of no significant impacts.

“Everybody in this room knows that isn’t true,” Harbaugh told commissioners. “And I think you commissioners also know that.” He said the health effects from aircraft noise and particle emissions are “real and getting worse,” and urged the Port to acknowledge the burden on nearby communities. “Go ahead and build your airport,” he said. “We know it’s going to happen, but please offer your most impacted and generally least advantaged citizens some help.”

Karen Valoria, who identified herself as a 20-year Burien resident, Burien Airport Committee member and START member, said she was speaking as a Boulevard Park resident living directly under the flight path.

“The people who live under the flight path are your constituents also,” Valoria told commissioners, describing a neighborhood where residents “feel, smell and hear the airport every few minutes every day.” She said the draft environmental review’s conclusion of no negative impact felt dismissive to those living with the airport’s effects. “It’s like they’re telling us don’t believe your eyes or ears,” she said.

Valoria also urged the Port to provide practical mitigation:

“But just throw us a bone, man. Expand the port packages. Give us more trees. Do what you can. Work with us because we can’t move.”

SeaTac Leaders, Residents Speak

Kevin Casey, a Riverton Heights resident in SeaTac, said Port employee traffic is affecting his neighborhood near the airport employee parking lot. He said traffic impacts should be measured not just by volume, but by driver behavior, arguing that airport employees use Riverton Heights as a “speed throughway.” He asked the Port to reconfigure employee parking access so it no longer uses South 146th Street.

Zach Shields, senior planner for the City of SeaTac, said the draft EIS does not fully evaluate the long-term consequences of the 31 SAMP near-term projects. He said airport expansion affects SeaTac’s streets, neighborhoods, businesses, housing plans, emergency access, public health and land use decisions, and urged the review to account for “the full cumulative burden on SeaTac.”

Will Booth, director of operations for a local nonprofit in SeaTac and a START member, focused on affordable housing and displacement risk. He said nearly 600 seniors, many disabled or veterans, live near the airport and fear rising rents or redevelopment. He asked whether the Port is ready to “pay their fair share” if residents are displaced, and called for a city-by-city cumulative impact table.

Comments From Des Moines

Des Moines Mayor Yoshiko Grace Matsui urged commissioners to move beyond one-time grants and establish recurring mitigation for airport communities.

“My ask today is direct,” Matsui said. “I’m urging the commission to commit to a direct substantive process with Des Moines, Burien and SeaTac on recurring mitigation, not another one time check, not another open ended promise to coordinate later.”

Des Moines City Manager Katherine Caffrey echoed that request, saying airport growth is important for the region but its impacts fall disproportionately on South King County communities.

“We are asking the commission to take this up and make a real commitment to have a conversation on how the port can grow and our cities can also continue to thrive,” Caffrey said.

Judy Davies, who said she was representing a Des Moines family living about a block from Mount Rainier High School, used the school’s flight-path noise to challenge the Port’s finding of no significant impact.

“I’d like to suggest that we hold this meeting outside at Mount Rainier High School,” Davies told commissioners, because “every few seconds we would have to stop” and wait for aircraft noise to pass before continuing. She said the proposed airport expansion would make already noisy skies even harder to live under.

Other local officials, including Des Moines Deputy Mayor Gene Achziger, Burien City Councilmember Rocco DeVito and SeaTac Senior Planner Zachary Shields, questioned whether the environmental review adequately addresses cumulative impacts, ultrafine particle pollution, traffic, land use changes and long term effects on surrounding communities.

Several residents from Burien, Des Moines, SeaTac and Normandy Park described aircraft noise, sleep disruption, air quality concerns and worries about future displacement and housing affordability. Multiple speakers also called on the Port to extend the public comment period, saying the thousands of pages in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement could not be adequately reviewed within the available timeframe.

Legislators Speak

Former state Sen. Karen Kaiser said the environmental review should place greater emphasis on health impacts.

“The environmental statement is not only the environment as we think of wildlife and plants,” Kaiser said. “They should include people and the impact.”

State Sen. Tina Orwall also urged the Port to continue addressing health concerns associated with ultrafine particles and aircraft noise while pursuing airport growth.

“This isn’t about having a thriving airport or a healthy community,” Orwall said. “It’s about doing both.”

Not All Opposed Project

Representatives from Alaska Airlines, the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, Bellevue Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Seattle Association, Visit Seattle, labor unions and other business organizations urged commissioners to move forward with the Sustainable Airport Master Plan.

Scott Kennedy, senior manager of state and local government affairs for Alaska Airlines, said the plan is essential to meeting future passenger demand and improving airport operations.

Business organizations argued the airport is critical to the region’s economic competitiveness, tourism, global trade and employment, while labor representatives said the projects would create thousands of family wage construction jobs and apprenticeship opportunities.

Several supporters also said planning should continue because previous efforts to identify sites for a new major airport in Western Washington have not produced a viable alternative.

Commission President Ryan Calkins said all testimony would become part of the official record for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement before the commission considers future action on the Sustainable Airport Master Plan.

Deadline to Submit Public Comment is July 21

Public comments will be accepted through 4 p.m. on July 21, 2026:

  • Submit online through the SEA SAMP website or by sending an email to samp@portseattle.org 
  • Submit a public comment by mail:

    Mr. Steve Rybolt
    Port of Seattle, Aviation Environment and Sustainability
    P.O. Box 68727, Seattle, WA 98168

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