Des Moines committee hears legal strategy, science concerns over Port of Seattle SAMP expansion

At a recent Des Moines City aviation committee meeting, community advocate and attorney Steve Edmiston reviewed a decade of regional airport planning and litigation tied to the Port of Seattle's SAMP and urged the committee to coordinate with neighboring cities on legal strategy and technical expertise.

Edmiston, who said he has followed airport and agency work since about 2016, told the committee "Everything is different," arguing that newer science and recent legal decisions give airport-neighbor communities stronger options than in the earlier third-runway fight. He singled out the "hard look" standard in administrative-law cases, saying agencies cannot simply rely on compliance metrics (for example, the 65 DNL noise contour) if scientific studies in the administrative record indicate harms.

The presentation and discussion covered three interlocking strands: the scientific evidence about ultrafine particles and non-auditory health impacts; pending litigation, including a class-action filed in federal court; and the committee's…