LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Ready for a major airport south of Yelm Highway?

Posted

In less than two weeks, the State will choose one of three sites they want to create an airport the size of SeaTac.

A location near Rainier in Thurston County is one of them.

The State Legislature decided 'we' need a new airport to serve the expected 40 million passengers that SeaTac and Paine Field will not be able to handle. The consulting firm hired to choose the spots, Kimley-Horn, is specifically targeting rural, agricultural land. There are thousands of homes, farms, ranches and  wildlands there.

When the State wants YOUR house or land, you are offered a 'fair market value' for it. If you refuse to sell or vacate, you become a 'problem'. The State's solution is to condemn your property under a clause called 'eminent domain'. It is theft softened by the word eviction. If you continue to refuse to leave your own home, you are dragged out by your heels. The State doesn't care where you go as long as it's out of the way of the bulldozers.

The deceptive and inaccurate tactic Kimley-Horn is using to demonstrate the size of their airport is to show only the footprint of the planned runways and passenger terminal.

The ACTUAL footprint for this planned airport is at least twenty times their graph. If you want to see what it will look like, just drive to SeaTac.

A commercial airport of this size requires an enormous supporting logistical infrastructure. This infrastructure includes widening current roads to six or eight lanes, building fuel storage tanks, maintenance hangers, parking lots for employees and passengers, rental car parking lots, motels, restaurants, bars, convenience stores, all sorts of places that serve forty million passengers.

The consulting firm's graph doesn't include things like water systems, sewage systems, electrical power, nor does it address where all the garbage, hazardous waste and trash a giant airport creates goes. Thurston county's current landfill, Hawks Prairie, does NOT have the capacity for that amount of garbage.

The big question is, why HERE? 

There are two gigantic, international airports, Portland, and SeaTac, all within driving distance of about an hour and a half. Both are served by I-5. 

Why not build this airport in Moses Lake? At this time, people in the middle of the state need to take an extra day to drive to SeaTac.

Twenty years ago, the State Legislature looked at putting an airport in Moses Lake. It decided there weren't enough people to justify an airport in the middle of the state. But Spokane, Yakima, Ontario, Pendleton, Boise, Moscow-all are experiencing explosive growth. An airport in Moses Lake would serve them better than one here in Thurston County.

The State doesn't seem to see that their preferred site in our County is actually harder to access than SeaTac or Portland. The obliteration of what few rural areas are left in Thurston doesn't bother them. The destruction of families and their homes don't concern them. The environmental destruction is not their problem. The noise, pollution and congestion don't worry them.

The Thurston County Commissioners have told the State repeatedly that we don't want an airport in Thurston County. They are being ignored.

For more information, or to express your opinion, please  email CACC@wsdot.wa.gov

Contact your State legislator. Tell him or her you do NOT want a giant commercial airport in Thurston County. Listen to what they say. If they see no problem with that airport, vote them out.

Michele Planck, Olympia

Comments

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  • FirstOtter

    About the same size as the asteroid that hit the planet and wiped out the dinosaurs..and as destructive.

    Wednesday, September 28, 2022 Report this

  • C K

    Not only no, but hell no.

    Wednesday, September 28, 2022 Report this

  • SandiToeze

    ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!

    Traffic messes, vehicle accidents, freeway congestion, thunderous planes arriving and departing; there aren't many worse ways to ruin our county, peace and livelihoods that I can think of off-hand. Oh, and I forgot to mention planes dumping fuel prior to landing, potential plane accidents and/or mishaps.

    Thursday, September 29, 2022 Report this

  • lookoutmtn

    Moses Lake already has an airport that can handle jumbo jets - andbthe land anf burgeoning IT businesses exploding. As a Central Washington resident for over 20 years I can attest that everyone having to drive to Sea-Tac or fly in a tiny plane that can barely keep its wings on through the turbulence going over the cascades - eould love to have a najor airport in Moses Lake. Methinks ruling out Moses Lake isore about taking business away from yakima. Tri cities andvwalla walla.airports.

    Thursday, September 29, 2022 Report this

  • LauratheBruce

    What a spectacularly stupid idea.

    Thursday, September 29, 2022 Report this

  • Coug66

    So, what will happen to all the federally-protected, displaced pocket gophers?

    Thursday, September 29, 2022 Report this

  • TaylorJackman

    Honestly I think you all are crazy and that thus airport would hugely benefit olympia and lacey we no longer would have to drive an hour north to get to an airport, and to those who brought up Easter washington, you are aware that Spokane and Boise have commercial airports right? We need this airport more than them. This airport would also bring more jobs to Thurston County and would better our economy. I hope they choose Thurston County to be the airport.

    Thursday, September 29, 2022 Report this

  • DeaneTR

    Entire project is a clueless throwback to the 1950's when there were huge amounts of land and no limits. Those days are over! The last major airport built was in Denver. Planning started in the early 80's and was completed in 1995. The only other airports in US since were a relocation of an airport in North Dakota finished in 2018 and an airport in Florida in 2011. All other airports have been an expansion of existing airports, which have been proven to be ineffective at achieving their objective: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969699719304314

    Pretty sure this entire charade is dead on arrival but is propped up by legislators and the governor who take election campaign contributions (aka: bribes) from the airline industry and to keep that money flowing they need to pretend like a new airport is going to be built.

    Problem is King County had a ballot initiative that stopped future airports in their county and that's where the demand for more air travel is. Expecting king county air travelers to drive south in traffic past JBLM to catch a flight is a non-starter.

    Thursday, September 29, 2022 Report this

  • MrRoboto

    I created an account just to come one here and say how bad of an idea this is. You do realize that yelm has like one major highway that is only 2 lanes? There is already so much traffic within yelm and its outlying road ways. If our county government and our state government would get of their butts they could build another highway to I-5. Or better yet, build a highway that runs parrallel to i5 until you get to 167 and then create an exit for i5 and 167. If Yelm was a ghost town, I would say an airport would be a good idea. Here's the kicker, it would actually be quite easy to put in another highway because there is no infrastructure to have to work around, its all military base. But like most local governments all they see is money making potential not spending money to help its people

    Friday, September 30, 2022 Report this

  • FirstOtter

    Those who like the idea of this monstrosity are not the people who will lose their homes to it.

    They won't be dealing with 20 years of more of constant traffic jams, construction noise, never mind forever afterwards living underneath a final approach runway.

    The so called 'jobs' doesn't justify putting this airport here in Thurston County. There are plenty of jobs around that don't include destroying a huge swathe of land, homes, businesses, etc.

    One poster said Moses Lake et al already has an airport. Well, so do we. We have two great big ones-SeaTac and Portland. If you don't like having to drive for an hour or so to get to them, the answer is simple. Move to Seattle or Portland. Then you don't destroy any lives but your own.

    Friday, September 30, 2022 Report this

  • buggabuns

    Whoever proposed this area clearly did not do their research and it's comical how poorly thought out this all is. The "Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission Summary of Work" document has guidelines these state workers need to follow, which includes making sure land isn't too wet, flood prone, and/or hilly. Most of this radius is INCREDIBLY wet and hilly, with some areas flooding due to the Deschutes River. There are also protected pocket gophers and Ecology is ridiculously stingy about building anything near them.

    Not only that, but a decently sized chunk of this land is owned by the military fort. Good luck trying to butt heads with the federal government. Literal clown world thinking.

    Friday, September 30, 2022 Report this

  • Jarrett

    This is a very bad idea, and it will hopefully never take off. People *live* here. People work here. Most of the area is zoned for environmental protection. And they want to bulldoze this whole area to build an airport that is barely needed?

    There's *two* close to here. How about we use the money to upgrade the Amtrak station and put in direct train lines to both of them. Hell, build out Olympia Regional to have passenger service.

    But DO NOT build a GIANT, useless airport on land that people are living on. College campus? Fine. Apartments? Cool. Even a 6 lane road bordered by strip malls and fast food joints is a a better land use than an airport.

    Seriously, this is a BAD IDEA.

    Sunday, October 2, 2022 Report this

  • jenncolvin

    For more information and to take action, see Keep Thurston Beautiful: https://www.facebook.com/keepthurstonbeautiful

    Saturday, October 8, 2022 Report this