After reading Eric Mathison's article claiming that nobody cares about the third runway expansion and that 37 percent of the residents are not even aware of the runway construction, I am totally mystified with several questions about the reporting:

What is the credibility of the reported EMC phone survey, given that the paying customer for the survey (PSRC) benefits from this result with future studies of air cargo increases, the future Regional Airport Study being conducted by the State and other Sea-Tac projects?

How can so many residents not be aware of this Sea-Tac Airport expansion? The third runway project has been a major local issue since 1994 when some 1,400 people attended a public hearing in SeaTac to challenge the project.

Our cities united and formed the Airport Communities Coalition (ACC) to dispute the need for the runway, the mitigation and several environmental issues. ACC used millions of taxpayer dollars fighting the runway. ACC expenses were major issues in city, county and state elections. Other citizen organizations are still monitoring the environmental impacts.

If our local citizens are truly not aware of the runway construction, they must not read, vote or drive on the roads used by hundreds of haul trucks. These surveyed residents must be as much in the dark as those in the "red States" who voted for President Bush.

Finally, why did Eric write the story giving the data as fact without the credibility? Eric must be aware of the fight our cities have had over airport expansion. Does he really believe that it will not increase the noise, increase the traffic on the crowded highways or increase the pollution in our streams?

I am still mystified and quite disappointed with the biased reporting of our local newspaper.

Jim Bartlemay

Des Moines