Submitted by Citizens of Ebey’s Reserve

Congressman Rick Larsen, Senator Patty Murray and Senator Maria Cantwell cosigned a Jan. 3 letter to Assistant Secretary of the Navy asking that he “extend the ongoing public comment period” on the Navy’s plans to increase EA-­18G Growler jet operations on Whidbey Island.

The Jan. 3 letter from the elected officials followed a Dec. 20, news release issued by a coalition of citizen organizations calling for an extension of the Navy’s Jan. 25 deadline for receiving public comments on its controversial expansion plans outlined in a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS).

The Navy’s DEIS proposes drastic increases in Growler jet numbers and over-all operations on Whidbey Island. Growler operations and their adverse environmental, economic and public health impacts have been the subject of litigation and the source of noise complaints from throughout the Puget Sound region.

COER and other coalition organizations, including Friends of the San Juans; Concerned Island Citizens, Oak Harbor; Quiet Skies Coalition, Lopez Island; Protect the Olympic Peninsula; Save the Olympic Peninsula; North Olympic Group; Sierra Club; Protect the Olympic Peninsula; Whidbey Environmental Action Network; Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility; and Veterans for Peace requested an extension of the comment period.

On Dec. 20, coalition members met with representatives of Governor Jay Inslee to request his support for an extension of the Navy’s deadline and to voice concerns over existing and planned adverse impacts of Growler operations over Whidbey Island, the San Juan Islands and the Olympic Peninsula. On Dec. 23, Mayor Molly Hughes of Coupeville, where the Navy wants to conduct up to 65,000 Growler operations a year, became the first Whidbey Island public official to request an extension.

“Our organizations generated hundreds of calls, emails and letters to our public officials urging them to take this action,” said Cate Andrews of Citizens of Ebey’s Reserve (COER). “If the Navy grants this extension, it will be because citizens took the lead and the elected leaders followed. We are still waiting on the Governor and other local politicians to express their much-needed support for this extension,” she added.

According to COER’s attorney, the Navy’s 1,400-page document contains “highly complex technical analysis” that requires more time to review. This includes the Navy’s reliance on “complex computer modeling” instead of actual measurements to analyze the noise impacts of proposed increases in operations.

The attorney’s Dec. 19 letter to the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Atlantic stated that the request for an extension should also be granted due to the on-­going investigation of toxic contamination of private and public wells that supply drinking water, according to the attorney.

The Navy notified the owners of more than 100 private and public drinking wells of potential contamination on Nov. 7. A growing number of public and private wells have been found contaminated with chemicals first discovered on Navy property. The Navy’s investigation is on-­going and an increasing number of residents are being told by the Navy not to drink or cook with their water. Perfluorooctanoic Acid found in the drinking water has been linked to kidney and testicular cancers, birth defects, damage to the immune system, heart and thyroid disease and complications during pregnancy. Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board labeled it a likely human carcinogen.

“We appreciate the elected officials’ support for an extension,” said COER board member Maryon Attwood. “We hope they will consider speaking out against the harmful operations the Navy is conducting and is proposing in their draft environmental statement.”