Sea-Tac Airport Showers Surrounding Communities with Harmful Pollutants, Class Action Says

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A proposed class action alleges the Port of Seattle, Alaska Air Group and Delta Air Lines have released dangerously high levels of pollutants into the communities surrounding Washington’s Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. 

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The 43-page complaint says that pollution is “particularly acute” within a five-mile radius of Sea-Tac Airport, where nearly 300,000 people—including more than 60,000 children—live. In this area, which includes the cities of Burien, Des Moines, SeaTac and Tukwila, health issues stemming from Sea-Tac Airport pollution are on the rise, in particular cancer, heart disease and chronic lower respiratory disease, the lawsuit states.

According to the case, babies born within this “danger zone” have a higher chance of being born premature or underweight, and residents generally have a lower life expectancy than those who live outside of the pollution radius, the suit shares. In fact, the lawsuit says, researchers have concluded that airport-related pollution has led to “hundreds of excess deaths” in the so-called “contamination zone” each year. 

The case, filed on April 19 in King County, Washington Superior Court, states that pollution from Sea-Tac Airport disproportionately affects low-income and minority communities. 

“The disproportionate impact of airport pollution on low-income and racially diverse communities is an issue of environmental justice; it is unlikely that Defendants’ behavior would continue for long if the affected community was wealthy or politically powerful,” the complaint contends. 

At some point, the suit says, the defendants “became aware” that their actions at Sea-Tac Airport were contaminating neighboring communities, making people sick and exposing them to an increased risk of disease. Despite this knowledge, and despite pleas from local residents, Port of Seattle, the agency that owns Sea-Tac Airport, and Alaska Air Group and Delta—who together reportedly accounted for around 80 percent of the flights handled by the airport in 2020—have “ignored the consequences of their actions and have not addressed the problem,” the case charges. 

“Instead, they have carried on as usual, expanding operations at Sea-Tac and raking in profits at the expense of the health and the very lives of families living in the Contamination Zone,” the lawsuit alleges. 

Per the suit, the jet fuel burned by planes as they take off and land at Sea-Tac airport “spews pollutants into the atmosphere,” and particulate matter can also flake off from the bodies of airplanes during flight, further contaminating the environment. Pollutants generated by airplane activity can include myriad hazardous chemicals, including toxic heavy metals, particulate matter and dangerous gases, that contaminate nearby soil and air, the complaint relays. 

The case contests that the defendants should be required to “fix the harm they have caused,” yet because the companies are “unwilling to take on this responsibility voluntarily,” the court must injunctively step in. 

“[Residents] are entitled to breathe clean air and live on uncontaminated land,” the suit emphasizes. “They should not have to resign themselves to becoming sick and/or being unreasonably exposed to the risk of disease, or watching their children become sick and/or be exposed to an increased risk of disease, to enable Defendants’ commercial profits.” 

The lawsuit looks to cover all current residents of the contamination zone depicted in the image at the top of this page and all current renters and residential property owners who live in the alleged “contamination zone.” 

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