OLYMPIA, Wash. — Editor's note: The above video on pushback to a proposed location for a new commercial airport originally aired on Feb. 1.
A new bill would push back the state's timeline to identify a location to build a new airport that lawmakers said is badly needed to alleviate capacity concerns at SeaTac and accommodate anticipated growth in the Puget Sound region over the next three decades.
The Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission narrowed the list of potential locations for a new airport down to three spots: two in rural Pierce County, near Graham and Roy, and one in Thurston County, southeast of Olympia.
The list has elicited public outcry from local lawmakers and residents alike, citing concerns over lowering property values, environmental degradation and lack of infrastructure. Many expressed concern over having to give up their homes and land to make way for the new facility.
House Bill 1791, sponsored by Representative Jake Fey, D - Tacoma, would replace the current commission with a new workgroup consisting of 19 voting members with a deadline to submit a progress report to Gov. Jay Inslee by Jan. 1, 2024.
The bill would require the workgroup to consider the impacts expanding a current facility or creating a new commercial airport would have on community members, quality of life and the environment, among other factors.
The workgroup would include:
- Seven citizen representatives, with at least two appointed from eastern Washington and two from western Washington
- Two representatives from statewide environmental organizations
- A representative from a community organization that understands the impacts of a large commercial aviation facility on a community
- Four representatives of commercial service airports
- Three representatives from the airline industry
- A representative from the freight forwarding industry
- A representative from the trucking industry
The workgroup would include non-voting members from the Senate and the House, a representative from the Department of Commerce, a representative of the Division of Aeronautics of the Department of Transportation and representatives from eastern and western Washington metropolitan planning organizations and regional airports.