Fewer trucks hauling dirt to the third runway project at Sea-Tac International Airport this year are overweight, Lt. Julie Myer of the Washington State Patrol told Citizens Against Sea-Tac Expansion (CASE) members on June 7.

In 2005, troopers completed 1,736 inspections of trucks headed to the runway with 153 vehicles issued citations for being overweight.

So far this year, the Patrol has inspected 196 vehicles. Myer did not have statistics on violations but said fewer trucks are overweight.

After hearing numerous complaints from community residents, the patrol has taken a "hard line" on overweight trucks, Myer noted.

A roadside "level one" inspection can take 40 minutes with a trooper interviewing the driver, looking around the truck, and weighing the load with portable scales, she added.

CASE consultant Greg Wingard also reported on a state Department of Ecology order to the Port of Seattle, operators of the airport.

The recently released order was a follow-up to over $1,000 in fines levied against the Port and its contractors for a series of spills at the runway site in the fall and winter of 2004.

Wingard said Ecology ordered the Port to install gauges on detention ponds to monitor water level and to monitor water flowing into Miller and Walker creeks.

He called the two mandates "a huge step forward."

Normandy Park Councilman Stuart Creighton said city officials want an alarm system installed at Miller Creek to alert them immediately of sudden high water flows. An alarm would sound at the city's police station, which is manned 24 hours a day.

Chas Talbot, Regional Commission on Airport Affairs (RCAA) administrator, reported on a regional air cargo study underway for the Puget Sound Regional Council.

RCAA is a nonprofit group that favors the building of a second regional airport.

Talbot said forecasts are that by 2025, the volume of air cargo will double in the region.

He said he feared the study would recommend that all future local air cargo be "crammed into Sea-Tac and Boeing Field."