Just out of Port, Locke sails into environmental tempest

NORMANDY PARK - Just west of Sea-Tac Airport, down a leafy valley patrolled by eagles, Miller Creek teems with ducks, trout, salmon and potential trouble for Gov. Gary Locke.

The creek is a showcase for why Locke can't rely on support from environmentalists in his re-election campaign.

Salmon lovers, who didn't like his opposition to removal of dams in eastern Washington, are now upset over his recent involvement in the airport expansion.

Sea-Tac has been called a creek polluter since its dedication in 1949. The $773 million third-runway project has been delayed by state and environmental reviews.

Eager to get the project moving, the Port has told county, state and federal regulators that it would build new wetlands, move portions of the creek, remove old septic tanks and manage stormwater so fish eggs aren't knocked from the creek bed. Salmon habitat in Miller and nearby Des Moines creeks will be no worse, and perhaps even better, says the Port.

Regulators aren't satisfied. The regional office of the Environmental Protection Agency has asked the Army Corps of Engineers to deny a permit for the project until the Port does more for fish. King County officials recently rejected the Port's stormwater-management plan. And there's continuing difficulty with one of Locke's agencies, the Department of Ecology.

With a state permit decision due by September, the Port has complained to Locke's office of duplicative paperwork and slow processing by understaffed regulators. DOE points back, saying the Port's submittals have been late or inadequate.

"Our regulatory review needs to be comprehensive in order to accommodate our various environmental objectives, but also in order to satisfy a very interested public," Ray Hellwig, regional DOE director, wrote in a memo to Locke's office. He described DOE's relationship with the Port as "open and positive" but "continually under stress."

Impatient with the pace of review, Port officials approached Locke through Martha Choe, former City Council member and now head of the state's trade and economic development. What followed were detailed e-mails and memos obtained by lawyers working to oppose the runway.

After an exchange of messages with DOE staff, Choe set up a May 16 meeting for Locke and his chief of staff, Joe Dear, to meet privately with the Port's executive director, Mic Dinsmore. Representatives of business and labor groups who back airport expansion also were invited.

Helping business groups understand the permitting processes or arranging meetings with the governor is routine in her job, says Choe. But environmentalists and critics of the project saw it differently when word spread of the scheduled meeting.

Larry Corvari, chair of the Sierra Club's south county chapter, picketed the meeting in downtown Seattle with about a dozen activists. He doesn't know specifically what the governor did, but he regards the meeting as suspicious. "The governor should not bail out the Port of Seattle when they haven't done the work to get the permits," says Corvari.

Bob Parker, airport spokesman, says no attempt was made to pressure regulators. "We wanted to update the governor on the third runway and explain how important it was that the project move ahead and that the timetables be met," says Parker.

Sen. Julia Patterson, D-SeaTac and a runway opponent, wrote to Ecology urging them to resist pressure. "We are still wondering what the result was of that meeting behind closed doors," she said in an interview.

The governor's office confirms that Ecology was told to make weekly reports on the airport, and Dinsmore of the Port and Tom Fitzsimmons, head of DOE, were told to call Dear if necessary paperwork was slow to come from the other side.

None of that represents pressure on Ecology, says Dear. To do so would only hand runway opponents a weapon they can use in a lawsuit, he says.

But that's precisely how Peter Eglick, a lawyer for the opponents, sees it. "Talk about putting the heat on: How many other applicants get to have the governor monitor their progress through the Clean Water Act requirements?" asks Eglick.

About two miles from the airport, Chris Gower lives in a house facing Miller Creek. It's the base of his campaign to stop the runway. Last year, he asked Locke to oppose the permits. The governor wrote back, saying, "As governor, I have no cause to intercede in the matter."

Gower says the governor appears to have contradicted himself by meeting with runway supporters. "When you meet with someone, you're intervening, wouldn't you say?"

It sure looks that way.