Community Voices Drive Major Win for Health Equity and Pollution Prevention in Seattle’s Duwamish River Valley

Seattle, WA —

Following a two-year battle aimed at revoking a permit that allowed a Seattle cement company to burn an unlimited number of tires for fuel for its kilns, community groups have won.

Testing that happened due to community pressure showed an increase in a toxic heavy metal due to increased tire burning, and as a result, PSCAA reinstated a previous 30% limit on the tire-burning at the facility.  Records show Ash Grove would have combusted up to 3.7 tons of tires (about 43% of total fuels) per hour to heat their cement kilns under the Notice of Construction Permit issued by PSCAA allowing the increased tire burning.

The air agency’s reversal stems from years of advocacy and litigation by Duwamish River Community Coalition and Front and Centered, who were represented by Earthjustice, as well as results from heavy metals testing requested by the community.  The testing results were made public during an appeal of the Ash Grove’s construction permit.

As a result of that testing, the prior 30% limit combustion now remains in place. Accordingly, DRCC and Front and Centered today voluntarily dismissed their appeal.

Tire burning releases particulate matter, heavy metals, and hazardous air pollutants known to harm human health in many ways, including respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and other chronic health problems.

As a frontline community, the Duwamish Valley is already disproportionately exposed to higher rates of air pollution resulting in serious health impacts. Some of these impacts include the highest rates of childhood asthma hospitalizations in King County and a life expectancy ten years less than other neighborhoods without these exposures, like Laurelhurst, only ten miles away.

Over 500 community members and 30 local businesses joined with DRCC, Front and Centered, and Earthjustice in strong opposition to the permit during the public comment period. Community members also led a protest in front of PSCAA headquarters in November of 2025, demanding their health be prioritized and the 30% limit remain in place. Despite this community advocacy, PSCAA issued a Final NOC to Ash Grove that eliminated the cap on burning tires at Ash Grove’s Seattle facility. In January 2026, DRCC and Front and Centered filed an appeal before the Pollution Control Hearings Board challenging that notice of construction order. Because PSCAA has reinstated the 30% limit, DRCC and Front and Centered dismissed their appeal.

By issuing a final permit that allowed for increased tire burning without instituting measures to control the corresponding increase in pollution, decision-makers at PSCAA failed to take seriously community concerns that have ultimately been proven true.

Following are statements from DRCC, Front & Centered, and Earthjustice: 

“In frontline communities like the Duwamish Valley, any increase in air pollution is unacceptable, and should be faced with the highest level of scrutiny,” said Paulina López, Executive Director of DRCC. “For too long, communities like ours who already bear a disproportionate share of environmental harms have also been forced to shoulder the responsibility of monitoring neglectful government decisions and advocating for our health.”

“Without the overwhelming outcry from the Duwamish Valley community, DRCC, and our partners” said Mia Ayala-Marshall, Clean Air Program Manager at DRCC, “PSCAA would have allowed this modification to occur without proper testing, further exposing our community to more dangerous air pollution that impacts our health.”

“Strong community advocacy led to this successful outcome for our clients,” said Nico Wedekind, Associate Attorney at Earthjustice. “This is a heartening example of the power of people and should put polluters on notice, but it also shows why significant change is needed to ensure that health and community concerns are taken seriously by agencies.”

“Washington State must take steps to pass laws that ensure our permitting processes fully account for a project’s potential adverse impacts to communities that are already facing high levels of pollution and increased health disparities,” said Jamie Hearn, Policy Council for Front and Centered. “While we are grateful for this community win, this process has further highlighted the lack of enforcement mechanisms available to frontline communities and is illustrative of the significant effort our communities must undertake to advocate for their health and safety.”

Background

DRCC and the community’s advocacy led PSCAA to add a condition to the Final NOC permit (issued Dec 2025) that required testing for hazardous air pollutants – arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, lead, manganese, nickel, and selenium – following the increase in the tire-firing rate. If the testing showed an increase in emissions of any pollution, the previous 30% rate would remain in place.

In June 2026, Ash Grove conducted the required testing, and results showed an increase in cadmium air pollution from Ash Grove’s increased burning of tires. Cadmium is a Class-1 carcinogen, known to cause lung and prostate cancer, and bioaccumulates in the kidneys and bones, causing kidney damage and bone demineralization. As a result, PSCAA reinstituted the 30% limit on tire combustion, to prevent an increase in metals emissions.

Under Washington’s current laws, permitting processes do not require polluting businesses to consider the effects of historical environmental racism and the cumulative health risk burdens that Frontline communities face. Legislation like the CURB Pollution Act is an important next step in ensuring that our communities have the healthy environment we all deserve. Without sustained advocacy by DRCC and Front and Centered, South Seattle could have been exposed to highly toxic heavy metal emissions, threatening the health of the families, children, and workers in this community. PSCAA’s review in this case was riddled with basic mathematical errors and poor modeling. Our communities deserve better.

The state must take accountability for the ways that existing permitting systems are not adequately health protective due to a lack of formal mechanisms to analyze cumulative impacts. The level of community organizing and advocacy demonstrated in South Seattle is not always possible in other frontline communities across the state, and the burden should not be on individual communities to take on the responsibility of demanding that our governmental entities do the very thing they were created to do – protect our health and environment through reducing air pollution.

This press release was originally issued by DRCC. Slight modifications were made for Earthjustice’s formatting. 

DRCC is a nonprofit organization seeking to elevate the voices of those impacted by the Duwamish River pollution and other environmental injustices with the goal of a clean, healthy, equitable environment for people and wildlife. For more information, visit DRCC’s Clean Air program webpage.

Front and Centered is a statewide, community-driven coalition working to advance equity, climate justice, and environmental justice for all Washingtonians.