By Alia Sinclair

The SeaTac City Council unanimously voted Tuesday night (Nov. 12, 2025) to enter into an Interlocal Agreement with the cities of Burien and Des Moines to secure outside legal counsel to push back against the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) as a result of the Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP).

The FAA’s evaluation comes as the result of the agency’s National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a federal review of environmental impact. Their Finding of No Significant Impact has led the cities involved in the Interlocal Agreement to suspect that their previously submitted comments about the impact of the SAMP to south King County residents were not adequately addressed by the FAA during the NEPA process.

As a result, the cities of SeaTac, Burien, and Des Moines intend to secure outside legal counsel to push back against the FONSI and ensure the environmental impacts to south King County residents are addressed.

The proposed expenditure of $350,000 approved by city council represents the estimated cost of legal counsel. SeaTac anticipates that approximately 74% of this expenditure will be covered through the proportional cost sharing agreement between the three cities involved in the Interlocal Agreement. 

Consequently, city staff are anticipating up to $259,000 in revenues from the cities of Burien and Des Moines as reimbursement. The monies will come from the Port ILA Fund 105 in the 2025-2026 SeaTac Biennial Budget.

Commenting on the need to push back against the FONSI, Councilmember Lovell stated:

“Even if we had to foot this entire bill, I don’t know how we’d afford it, but I still think it’s the right thing to do because we need to hold folks accountable. We need to use every tool we can.”