Dioxin study at Lora Lake Apartments

The Department of Ecology has just released its reply to public comments about the study of contamination at the site of the former Lora Lake Apartments in Burien.  This document (known as a "Responsiveness Summary") may be borrowed by interested parties from the Regional Commission on Airport Affairs. The summary will give readers a  lot of background on the environmental issues, & on the studies that are planned to resolve (one hopes) the complex problem of chemical contamination at the site.  

The Port of Seattle acquired the property as part of the third-runway project.  The apartments were felt to be unacceptably close to the third runway & its noise. So, the Port bought the facility & closed it.  In acquiring the land, the Port also acquired legal responsibility for pre-existing contamination, which dates back to a time before the apartments were built.  The site has been described as having the worst dioxin-contamination problem of any place in the State.   There is fear that the contamination on site may have migrated toward or into Lora Lake itself.  The lake is a source for Miller Creek.

E-mail RCAA at to arrange to borrow the report.

Job numbers revisited

Earlier today, we posted a sarcastic comment about the number of jobs (3,000) that, according to the Port of Seattle, have been created by construction of the Rental Car Facility at Sea-Tac Airport.   Readers should be aware that the Port now advises us that the 3,000 jobs are actually construction & construction-related "jobs".  

When the facility is completed, in a few months,  we have no doubt that those "jobs" will be gone.

The Port further advises that the new facility will have between 300 & 400 permanent employess -- not of the Port but of tenant companies.  For further information, visit

http://www.portseattle.org/seatac/construction/rentalcar.shtml

Noise-measurement workshop, 29 July

Landrum & Brown, lead consultants for the noise study at Sea-Tac Airport, have announced  that a "Technical Noise Workshop", featuring Vince Mestre, PE, will be held on Thursday, 29 July at the Beijing Room in the main terminal at the Airport, from 12.30 to 1.30 pm..  

After the formal session of the 9 June noise-study workshop, Mr Mestre met briefly with some of the attendees (including Normandy Park Mayor George Hadley & Burien Councilwoman Rose Clark), to discuss in more depth the noise-modelling & noise-measurement issues that are involved in the study.  This unplanned seminar (if we may call it that) was so informative that Clark & Hadley immediately suggested that Mr Mestre come back to the area for an extended discussion of these issues for the benefit of people interested in the technical details.  Although the request was for an evening meeting on a Wednesday (to accommodate city electeds & senior staff), the study team has chosen a shorter session in the middle of the work day.  

Mayor Hadley has circulated a group of questions that he would like to see addressed -- too extensive for a 'blog' post.  Contact RCAA or Mayor Hadley for a copy.

Inefficient new parking structure at Sea-Tac

According to a recent news release from the Port of Seattle about the new parking structure at Sea-Tac Airport, some 3,000 people will be required to operate it !  Rather inefficient.  Here's the lead sentence from the news release.

(Seattle - July 14, 2010) - Only one year after re-starting the project due to the bad economy, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport's new Rental Car Facility celebrated it's [sic] topping off today with the help of one of the four tower cranes on-site to signal the halfway point of a project creating an estimated 3,000 jobs. 

The new garage will have about 3,200 spaces, according to the Port's news release.  So this works out to almost one employee per space.  Wow, what service !  Why don't we believe any of this?