During the bitter third-runway fight, the Highline NIMBYS predicted, if construction was allowed to go ahead, muddy airport water would spill into neighboring salmon-bearing streams.

The die-hards claimed detention ponds would also fail, sending turbid water into the wetlands.

Guess what?

Those incidents and more occurred in the last few months.

The state Department of Ecology has fined the Port of Seattle and its main contractor, TTI Constructors, $111,000 for allowing seven releases of muddy water into neighboring creeks and for pumping over two million gallons of waste water laced with oil, grease and de-icing compounds into a stormwater treatment system.

(A skeptic figures the fine equals what a Port commissioner spends on a foreign "fact-finding" junket.)

So you would have thought Port commissioners and Ecology staffers would have faced a very vocal crowd when they appeared at last week's Citizens Against Sea-Tac Expansion (CASE) meeting.

But the Not-In-My-Backyarders (NIMBYS) displayed their best Normandy Park manners. No canes were raised in anger.

Some questioners seemed more concerned about traffic congestion and another regional airport.

Likely, the CASE members were impressed that Port commissioners and managers had the guts to show up.

Port president Pat Davis, vice president Lloyd Hara and first-termer Alec Fisken, a commission majority, attended.

After joking that Mercer Island would be paved over for the next runway, Davis assured a questioner that a fourth runway would not be built at Sea-Tac because there is no more room.

Of course, there wasn't room for a third runway unless they built it off a cliff and dealt with creeks and wetlands running throughout the site.

That's why they're stuck with this Rube Goldberg set-up of giant retaining walls/art galleries and tricky stormwater retrieval systems.

Oh well, that's water under an airport bridge now.

Anyway, communication, not arrogance always helps. This is the Port's new strategy not only with the anti-runway groups but with officials of neighboring cities.

The litigious Airport Communities Coalition has morphed into the cooperative Highline Forum.

The day after the CASE meeting, the Port loaded up neighboring electeds, city staffers and a reporter in an energy-efficient bus for a preview of the reconfigured South 154th/156th Street. Even if Seattle City Light doesn't get the street lights hooked up, the road should be open this week.

After the tour, the Port served refreshments. I don't know about politicians but I can tell you that letting them eat cake goes a long way in softening up curmudgeonly journalists.

Another reason for the relatively-quiet CASE meeting is nobody wants to re-enter a costly legal battle.

The audience sensed Port officials are really trying to live up to the most stringent airport environmental permits ever issued.

Critics say the community spent all that money on law suits but still got the runway. However, we also won impressive environmental protections.

The Port reports the problems concerned stormwater collection and retention. The treatment system has worked flawlessly, they say.

Port officials also caught a break from the CASE members by pointing the finger at workers hired by contractors.

Anyone who has undertaken a home remodeling project understands problems with contractors.

Contractors -- you can't live with them, you can't live without them.

Just last week, contractors working on Sound Transit's light-rail project had to knock down a recently poured concrete wall because they built it eight inches out of alignment.

Puget Sounders can also relate to problems caused by incessant rain. While the failures were not all rain-related, airport manager Mark Reis says that one-half inch of rain generates two million gallons of runoff that must be treated.

President Davis promised more Port oversight and training on the project.

While the Port escaped the burning torches this time, the die-hards who have attending monthly CASE meetings for years will be watching closely.

If problems persist, the Port's reception next time won't be as cordial.

Eric Mathison can be reached at hteditor@robinsonnews.com or 206-388-1855.