Stop Oly Airport's plans to add more lead & noise pollution

The Port of Olympia owns the Olympia Airport and is trying to significantly expand air traffic there. This would increase the lead and ultrafine particles (UFPs) that aircraft are already spreading over Thurston County. Toddlers in Tumwater are testing positive for lead in their blood. Click here to read a facts sheet on the Port's plans.

We have filed a lawsuit to stop the Port from expanding air traffic. It's costing thousands of dollars. This is money spent to protect the community. It is a county-wide issue because pollutants from aircraft emissions often drift for miles. Lead levels, no matter how small, are dangerous for children. And UFPs cross the blood-brain barrier, causing neurological issues in children and adults, including an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease. UFPs also increase the risk of heart disease and stroke.

The Port's proposed increase in air traffic also would threaten the wells that provide most of Tumwater's drinking water. The Port plans to put a deicing facility in the wellhead protection area for the Bush Wellhead, which is Tumwater's main drinking water source.

The plans also would impair the ability of the aquifer to absorb water. This could cause Tumwater to run out of water in the future as its population grows.

Increased air traffic, especially larger jets and more helicopters, would create much more noise. It's already bad enough with the current noise levels. Noise from aircraft has been linked to stress, hypertension, stroke, heart disease, and a negative effect on children’s cognitive skills.

The Port's plans don't just affect people. The aquifer puts significant amounts of groundwater into the nearby Deschutes River, cooling it for salmon. Impairing the aquifer's recharge ability would hurt salmon and waste the sizable investment that the community has made in the salmon runs in that river. Likewise, a deicing facility threatens to contaminate the aquifer, which in turn would hurt salmon runs.

The Port's plans also could cause the extinction of the Olympia pocket gopher because all the planned new buildings and pavement would destroy hundreds of acres of the prairie at the airport. It's the largest remaining quality habitat for this threatened subspecies of pocket gopher. The threatened streaked horned lark also would be harmed. It uses the airport prairie for breeding and has very few alternative locations for its nests. The Port's plans also would harm two more protected species: the Oregon spotted frog and the Oregon vesper sparrow.

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