PORT OF SEATTLE 
MEMORANDUM 
COMMISSION AGENDA               Item No.      7c 
STAFF BRIEFING 
Date of Meeting   February 10, 2015 
DATE:    January 16, 2015 
TO:     Ted Fick, Chief Executive Officer 
FROM:    Elizabeth Leavitt, Director, Aviation Planning and Environmental 
Leslie Stanton, Manager, Environmental Strategy and Sustainability 
SUBJECT:  Strategy for a Sustainable Sea-Tac (S3) Briefing 
SYNOPSIS 
Staff will brief Commission on our Draft Strategy for a Sustainable Sea-Tac (S3), the next
phase of the Airport's sustainability program. The Airport's first environmental strategic plan,
Sea-Tac's Environmental Strategy Plan 2009: A Vision for 2014 and Beyond was developed
in 2009. The Airport has achieved many of the strategic goals in the plan. Today's definition 
of sustainability now includes social and economic factors, so an updated plan was called for.
Staff will brief the Commission on these proposed goals, accomplishments, and objectives
and discuss how the objectives will be integrated into the Sustainable Airport Master Plan. 
BACKGROUND 
In the 2009 Plan, Sea-Tac presented a framework and roadmap for the Airport to meet a
variety of ambitious environmental sustainability goals and objectives. The Plan covered the
following five years ending in 2014.
Since 2009, Sea-Tac has achieved a number of environmental goals from the Plan including: 
Achieving and maintaining best management practices for water quality treatment and
flow control at 100% of Airport industrial areas, 
Reduced our electricity use to levels below Tier 2 power rates, and 
Reduced water consumption to less than 200 million gallons per year. 
At the same time, Sea-Tac also made progress on other focus areas but not enough to reach
the goals included in the 2009 Plan.  For example, Sea-Tac successfully increased our
recycling rate from 23 percent in 2009 to over 33 percent in 2013, but has not reached our
original goal of 50 percent. Similarly, greenhouse gas emissions were not reduced to 15 
percent below 2005 levels, despite a number of energy efficiency projects and extensive
research into low-carbon fuels.
After Commission adoption of the Century Agenda in 2012, the Airport adopted the strategic
goal to "Lead the U.S. airport industry in environmental innovation and minimize the airport's
environmental footprint." Leading-edge airports now include goals beyond environmental in

Template revised May 30, 2013.

COMMISSION AGENDA 
Ted Fick, Chief Executive Officer 
January 16, 2015 
Page 2 of 2 
their sustainability programs as the definition of sustainability includes social and economic
considerations.
At the same time, the Airport began working on a new master plan. Planning for the future of
the Airport in a manner that meets the demands of the travelling public and the Century
Agenda environmental goals presents a unique challenge for Airport staff. Doubling the
number of Airport passengers while minimizing our environmental footprint creates a set of
potentially conflicting goals that cannot be mutually achieved without careful planning and an
integrated approach. Given this challenge, staff determined that pursuing a sustainable airport
master plan was the right course, and sought out a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) 
grant to work on integrating sustainability into airport master planning. Sea-Tac will be the
first large U.S. airport to complete a Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP).
The final S3 document will include objectives that set strategic direction in how we operate
the Airport in a sustainable manner (recycling and waste reduction, electrification of
equipment) along with objectives that inform how we build Airport facilities (LEED, energy
and water conservation, etc). The S3 objectives that address how we build Airport facilities
will be integrated into the master plan. The remaining objectives that address how we operate
the Airport will be used to guide the programs to minimize the environmental footprint of the
Airport operation.
ATTACHMENTS TO THIS BRIEFING 
PowerPoint presentation 
PREVIOUS COMMISSION ACTIONS OR BRIEFINGS 
August 4, 2009 - Seattle-Tacoma International Airport's Five-Year Environmental
Strategy Plan (2009) as it relates to the Century Agenda.