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Community members raised concerns today over changes the Port of Olympia is proposing for Olympia Regional Airport in its Master Plan Update.
During the second open house hearing for the 2021 master plan update hosted by the Port, attendees questioned Port officers on how the future airport will affect the community, especially in terms of increased air traffic, public health, and the environment.
Bob Jacobs, an Olympia resident who also owns property in Tumwater, worried that the Port's plans are moving toward urging the Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission (CACC) to make the airport a substitute to nearby airports.
“I do not want expansion of Olympia as an alternative to SeaTac (Seattle-Tacoma International Airport),” Jacobs stressed. “I do not want a new airport in Thurston County.”
The CACC’s 2022 report to the Legislative Transportation Committee does not include Olympia Regional Airport in its list of grant recipients for airport improvement.
The Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission (CACC) work and the Olympia Regional Airport Master Plan Update are two completely separate and unrelated processes.
Health Concerns
An attendee who identified herself as “Janet” wanted clarification if there would be a community health study on the expected increase in air traffic over the community, which she claimed will be 230,000 aircraft annually. Citing a public study done on SeaTac, she asked if there would be similar measures taken for Olympia Airport.
“I’m wondering if that study will be considered at all during this master plan update process,” Janet asked.
Project Manager Leah Whitfield corrected Janet, saying their 2040 forecast only counts “just over 85,000 operations.”
Another participant, L. Riner, who says she had family living near the airport, also voiced concern on how aircraft will affect public health in terms of emissions, noise, and stress. She said that her family members who lived in the flight path used by SeaTac planes had asthma, with their health “deteriorated year after year.”
Ursula Euler says she wants public health studies on communities near airport be included as references for the master plan, saying that studies show that commercial airline services can affect public health in a ten-mile area.
"Generations of children are gonna be under these emissions,” pointed out Riner.
Environmental Impact
“I also worry about the health of wildlife,” shared Sue Danvers.
Danvers mentioned that the airport’s flight paths pass over protected areas, giving mention to local frogs and Tumwater’s efforts to save the amphibians.
The Oregon spotted frog, Rana pretiosa, has breeding grounds in the Tumwater’s Growth Area and is proclaimed threatened by the federal government.
“Leaded fuels will go through the skins of frogs,” Danvers warned, acknowledging that while electric and hydrogen-powered planes featured during the presentation are good, it's still uncertain when they will replace conventional fossil fuel aircraft.
Danvers and Olympia resident Julia Barden said they wanted the Port to make a statement on the maximum air traffic the airport will have with the proposed changes.
Operations Director Rudy Rudolph declined to comment on most of the points raised during the meeting, saying they would be addressed at another time.
Clarification, Feb. 18, 2022, 7 p.m.: An earlier version of this story did not make clear that the Master Plan Update, a project of the port, is unrelated to the CACC.
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AugieH
If I-5 north from Olympia is shut down or gridlocked by traffic or weather, then it can be very difficult to practically impossible to get to SeaTac to make a flight. There is a desperate need for another airport serving commercial carriers located between SeaTac and Portland. The amount of revenue that would be generated for the county and Port of Olympia would be considerable. So, if opponents want to stop a serious plan for airport expansion dead in its tracks, they’d better take up a collection to buy out the concept of such with an equivalent amount of dollars. Any NIMBY movement is relatively too dollar poor to compete.
Friday, February 18, 2022 Report this
UrsulaEuler
Well-educated and smart people made the comments at the Port's Open House. I have watched all CACC meetings, which put me on a path of learning about airports and commercial aviation in general, its pros and its cons. The aviation industry-WSDOT-FAA complex definitely do a good job in touting the pros. The cons are swept under the carpet. Talk to the SeaTac communities, they are not thriving, financially and otherwise. It is important to begin to have balanced conversations so that educated decisions can be made. Where is the comparison for cargo, for example, between rail and truck and plane? Let's talk about that. How many people are really flying and for what reasons, at what cost, and how has that changed with the pandemic? Do the Pros outweigh the Cons, or could AugieH decide that it is a small price to pay to put up with a little grid-lock going to the airport? Could we wait for that Amazon package for another day or two?
Friday, February 18, 2022 Report this
DStusser
The JOLT appreciates reader comments. What's yours?
Friday, February 18, 2022 Report this
JulesJames
Olympia is wonderfully located to be the primary distribution center for SW Washington. The many warehouses in the Hawk's Prairie area already show that. I can foresee a day when regional airports serve fleets of freighter drones and all surrounding the airport are tilt-up warehouses for the final deliveries. This would be primarily retail deliveries, competing with neighborhood retail and Main Street. I'd like to see this Airport Master Plan Update include an Economic & Zoning Impact Zone study.
Saturday, February 19, 2022 Report this
MHoraney
ANYWHERE in Thurston County is NOT a good place for a new commercial or freight airport. At some point - in the distant future - when planes are all electric and silent we maybe might revisit this.
A new airport with current aircraft means noise and pollution. And traffic - more traffic - on I-5.
All of those downsides will roll and affect us all 24-7-365.
I know about the stress of air traffic above and around as I have lived in the landing path of San Francisco International Airport in Foster City CA and 2 miles from Oakland International Airport which was on the take-off side of the strips.
It is god awful trying to get sleep or get work done or sometimes just have a conversation due to the noise. And curfews are - there and at any airport - blithely ignored.
Once an airport for passengers and freight goes in it never ever goes away.
Despite the lure of $$$ tax revenue please reject a plan to add and build an airport in the county.
Too much noise and too much traffic and too much stress - to humans and animals in the wooded area and swamps that abound.
I would also not want to “dump” this in nearby Lewis County either due to greenspace and farmland that should not be plowed under and paved over.
Saturday, February 19, 2022 Report this