Pierce County makes new plea to end airport prospects. Why it’s questioning transparency
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New airport in Pierce County?
Two sites in Pierce County, south of Tacoma, will be analyzed as a site for new passenger, cargo flight operations by 2040 to accommodate Sea-Tac overflow.
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The Pierce County Council, which already unanimously opposed siting a major airport in its jurisdiction, is making a new plea to end prospects that a commercial hub for some 20 million annual passengers could land locally.
A resolution introduced Tuesday affirms prior county objections and requests again that the Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission does not include either of two county greenfield sites in its final recommendation to Washington state lawmakers. It also calls upon the Legislature to extend the CACC’s current June deadline for making such a proposal.
In addition, the resolution asks the state Legislature to ensure certain requirements are met for any recommended site, including that air space is adequate, necessary infrastructure and transportation costs are vetted, and environmental and logistical impacts are further analyzed.
County lawmakers are expected to vote on the resolution Feb. 7, nearly four months after they submitted a letter alongside County Executive Bruce Dammeier to the CACC to advocate against building an airport near Roy or Graham.
The resolution is sponsored by five council members, including Amy Cruver, who represents the district encompassing both greenfield sites.
In September, the state-created CACC narrowed a broader list of site options to just three — two in rural Pierce County and another in Thurston County — as it set out to meet a deadline for identifying a single location for a potential two-runway airport.
The CACC’s work, which began in late 2019, has come at the direction of the state Legislature, motivated by projections that the Puget Sound will be unable to accommodate a significant number of air passengers and cargo by 2050 without drastically expanded flight capacity.
The site-selection process has been controversial, spurring opposition from local governments, well-organized residents and tribal groups, among others, who have raised concerns about an airport’s impact to the environment, wildlife and livelihoods.
Documents accompanying the county’s resolution included letters from the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, Nisqually Indian Tribe and Graham Fire & Rescue.
While the resolution was advanced Tuesday for a vote next week, it did not elicit any comments from council members. The resolution, itself, laid out their concerns. They mirror those from some state representatives who have expressed opposition to siting an airport in any of the three greenfield sites still under review.
Rep. Tom Dent, R-Moses Lake, is expected to soon introduce legislation that would reset the site-selection process with different parameters. In a December interview with The News Tribune, Dent cited inadequate public engagement as one driving force for the proposed do-over, noting that CACC’s process kicked off just two months before the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
The county’s resolution reiterated that criticism, contending that outreach by CACC has been “inadequate and does not meet minimum acceptable standards of open and transparent governance.”
The two sites in Pierce County are outside the Urban Growth Area and lack necessary infrastructure, according to the resolution. A major airport would threaten groundwater, watersheds, salmon and other critical species; pose noise and air pollution risks; hurt rural character; and interfere with operations at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, it continued.
“(I)nsufficient consideration was given by the CACC to integrating new technologies and expanding current facilities for the purpose of meeting future air cargo and air passenger capacity needs,” the resolution said.
Acting CACC Chairman Warren Hendrickson recently told The News Tribune that existing airports were determined not to be able to provide the necessary capacity to meet the anticipated demand.
This story was originally published February 1, 2023 at 7:00 AM.
