FAA approves SEA Airport SAMP with ‘no significant impact’; local activist responds

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently approved a Final Environmental Assessment and issued a Finding of No Significant Impact and Record of Decision for the Port of Seattle’s Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP) Near-Term Projects at Sea-Tac Airport, the Port announced.

The FAA concluded the proposed near-term projects will not significantly affect the quality of the human environment under the National Environmental Policy Act.

The Port said the decision clears federal environmental review for 31 projects aimed at improving efficiency, safety, access, and support facilities at SEA within the airport’s existing footprint.

According to the Port, the FAA also identified 17 conditions the Port must address in design, construction, and operations. All but one reflect standard Port practices. The new requirement asks the Port to fund surface transportation improvements at 26 intersections, an estimated investment of about 40 million dollars intended to benefit nearby communities.

How to participate

The Port said the next step is a State Environmental Policy Act review led by the Port, with public input to be gathered throughout the process. A public online webinar to review the FAA Record of Decision and preview next steps is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, at 6 p.m. (register here), with online registration available. Port Commissioners will be briefed at the Oct. 14 meeting at Pier 69 in Seattle at Noon, followed by an Oct. 28 meeting at SEA. Both meetings will accept in-person and hybrid testimony.

Physical copies of the FAA decision and Final Environmental Assessment will be available for public review through Nov. 25 at SEA’s mezzanine office above Checkpoint 2, Port headquarters at Pier 69, and local libraries in Burien, Des Moines, Federal Way, SeaTac, White Center, Tukwila, and Vashon.

The SAMP is SEA’s blueprint for near-term development to meet forecast demand while addressing passenger processing capacity, cargo facilities, airfield standards, taxiway efficiency, and fuel storage needs. The FAA’s decision affirms that advancing the near-term projects will not cause significant environmental impacts.

Local Activist Responds

Steve Edmiston, a Des Moines resident and longtime activist on airport impacts, sharply criticized the FAA’s approval of the SAMP, calling the Final Environmental Assessment a “profound failure of judgment, discretion, and responsibility.”

“The Port’s final Environmental Assessment fails our communities by ignoring mounting evidence from local, national, and international scientists showing that airport overflights shorten lives, increase disease, and damage the environment,” Edmiston told South King Media. “Instead of taking the legally required ‘hard look’ at the science illustrating these harms, the Port EA ‘looks the other way’ and hides behind outdated federal laws dating back to the 1970s and stripping climate change and environmental justice assessments – entirely – out of the final document. The Port EA buries Washington’s own public health studies in an appendix comment, dismissing them with the ‘need more studies’ rhetoric once used in the same situation by Big Tobacco. The result is a weaker, politically-driven EA that green-lights 80,000 more flights a year—at the plain expense of our public health, the environment, and community trust.”