Airport Coalition Renews Request for Longer SAMP Review

The following open letter was provided to The Highline Journal by the South King County Airport Communities Coalition for Justice (STACC4J). The coalition says it submitted the request to Port of Seattle Commissioners following testimony presented during the July 9 special public hearing on the Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP) Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). The letter is published below as submitted.

Dear Port of Seattle Commissioners and Executive Director Stephen Metruck,

I am resubmitting our request to extend the SAMP SEPA Draft EIS public comment period to 90 days because the July 9 special Commission meeting made clear that airport‑impacted communities and nearby cities have much more to say about whether this DEIS adequately addresses cumulative harms.

At that meeting, only one speaker—Des Moines’ SEPA responsible official—had enough time in a two‑minute slot to spell out why an extension is necessary: thousands of pages of technical material, overlapping holidays, and years of Port preparation versus just sixty days for public review. The rest of us used our limited time to describe harms the DEIS fails to count.

For quick reference, our original extension request is included below. We are copying Commissioners, coalition partners, press, and elected officials from airport‑impacted cities because your decision on the comment period will affect residents and jurisdictions far beyond this week.

Thank you for your consideration,

STACC4J, and all updated signatories to the petition listed in the attached PDF.

Dear Port of Seattle Commissioners and Executive Director Stephen Metruck,

This public comment is submitted for the June 23, 2026 Port of Seattle Commission meeting regarding the Port’s decision to keep the public comment period for the Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP) Draft SEPA Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) at 60 days. The undersigned respectfully request that the Commission extend that period to 90 days.

The undersigned residents, elected officials, community organizations, and partner institutions respectfully urge the Port of Seattle to extend the public comment period for the SAMP SEPA DEIS from 60 days, May 22 through July 21, to 90 days. Since this request was first submitted, organizational signatories have more than doubled. The coalition now includes neighborhood associations, climate and environmental organizations, public health and health‑equity leaders, and BIPOC‑led and immigrant and refugee community organizations from airport‑impacted neighborhoods in South Seattle, Burien, SeaTac, White Center, and the Duwamish Valley.

Signatories include organizations such as: Duwamish River Community Coalition, Georgetown Community Council, Front and Centered, South Seattle Climate Action Network, Sustainable Seattle, Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility, Pacific Islander Health Board of Washington, El Centro de la Raza, White Center Food Bank, Seattle Parks Foundation, Puget Soundkeeper, 350 Seattle, People for Climate Action Seattle, Burien Airport Committee, the Cedarhurst neighborhood, SE Indivisible, Cambodian American Community Council of Washington, Oceania NW, and others, alongside individual residents of airport‑impacted communities.

The SAMP Draft SEPA EIS is a review of the community consequences of a major airport expansion. The proposal includes a second terminal building, increased fuel storage, off‑site cargo facilities, and new roads, all of which will shape surrounding neighborhoods for years to come. Many of the communities most affected are already identified as overburdened, facing cumulative air, noise, and health burdens that make a thorough, accessible SEPA review especially important. Residents already report significant sleep disruption, elevated stress, and difficulty opening windows due to noise and air quality concerns.

This review covers issues that directly affect communities, including housing pressure, public health, air quality, noise, land use and zoning, roadway impacts, and cumulative impacts. It is not simply a review of project‑by‑project construction effects. It is a review of the broader consequences of a linked airport expansion program that will influence community conditions for years to come.

The Cities of Burien, Des Moines, and SeaTac have already asked the Port to provide a 90‑day comment period, citing the project’s scale, complexity, unresolved cumulative impacts, overlap with regional preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and the need for enough time for cities, community organizations, and residents to review the document carefully and provide meaningful input. That formal request was denied on May 21, and the Port is currently keeping the review period at 60 days.

A 90‑day public comment period is needed for several reasons:

• SEPA is broader than the earlier NEPA process, and this Draft EIS addresses community‑facing issues—including housing, cumulative impacts, human health, environmental justice, air quality, and noise—that cannot be adequately reviewed in a minimal 60‑day window.
• The document is large and technically complex, and communities need real time to read, discuss, translate, and respond so that comments reflect informed public understanding rather than rushed reaction. Many of the organizations signing this letter work directly with overburdened communities already identified in Washington’s environmental health disparities maps, and a 90‑day period is the minimum needed for these communities and their partners to provide meaningful input.
• The Port is both proposing the project and leading the SEPA review, which makes transparency, independent scrutiny, and plain‑language public explanation especially important to public trust.
• The Port has committed to multilingual access, community partnerships, and reduced barriers to participation; a 90‑day comment period is far more consistent with those commitments than a 60‑day window, particularly for residents with language, technology, or schedule barriers.
• A 90‑day period is consistent with best practices for complex environmental reviews of this scale and will help avoid perceptions of a predetermined outcome.

For these reasons, the undersigned respectfully request that the Port reverse its decision and extend the SAMP Draft SEPA EIS public comment period to 90 days.

Thank you for your consideration,

STACC4J, and all undersigned listed in the attached .pdf.

Editor's Note: This open letter is published as submitted by the South King County Airport Communities Coalition for Justice (STACC4J).