In a letter sent to state transportation officials today, Seattle transportation director Peter Hahn complains that the city is being frozen out of the process for reviewing potential environmental impacts of the deep bore tunnel.

"It appears," Hahn writes, "that the city has been transformed from a somewhat junior partner... to what amounts to a silent non-partner."

Theoretically, the city is supposed to be a "co-lead" in this process, and it wants its increasing concerns about the tunnel's feasibility incorporated into the environmental review. The state, Hahn says, is now simply ignoring Seattle's concerns.

"In my view," Hahn writes, "it is extremely unusual to exclude a co-lead agency from the process of preparing an Environmental Impact Statement."

An opening for yet another tunnel-related lawsuit?

UPDATE:

Tunnel opponent Cary Moon tells me: "This is no longer the same tunnel project that Seattle leaders agreed to years ago. Because of that, it causes significant problems for the city, and obviously, as a co-lead on the project's environmental impact statement, the City of Seattle should be able to have those problems analyzed and solved. The City Council needs to back Hahn up on this."