Just concluded in the courtroom of King County Superior Court Judge Mariane Spearman: The first hearing related to the environmental coalition lawsuit challenging the Port of Seattle‘s lease with Foss Maritime for part of West Seattle’s Terminal 5, with the expectation that some of the activity there will involve Shell’s Arctic-drilling fleet. Bottom line: Judge Spearman did not make a ruling today, saying she wants to read some of the case-law cited. The port’s major argument is that they’re not the ones that should be challenged relating to the Shoreline Management Act – that the city is the enforcer of that act on shoreline within city limits, and it’s the one that the port should be taking to court. The coalition contends that while the port has a permit to use Terminal 5 as a cargo terminal, that’s not really the kind of use that will be involved in the Foss/Shell use, and so a new environmental use is warranted. They also had hoped today to have the court order Foss to say when it expects Shell vessels to start arriving; Foss has not yet released any such information.