The Associated Press and Peninsula Daily News news sources
SEATTLE — A federal judge has refused to order an injunction sought by neighbors of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island to stop noisy jet fighters from practicing aircraft-carrier landings.
Dozens of Coupeville residents have complained that the Navy’s decision last year to resume flights of the EA-18G Growler aircraft, after stopping them in 2013, is ruining their health because of the constant noise, The Seattle Times said.
Noise from the Growlers’ operations can be heard across the Strait of Juan de Fuca in Port Townsend and elsewhere on the North Olympic Peninsula, residents have said.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly said Tuesday that members of the group calling itself Citizens of the Ebey’s Reserve for a Healthy, Safe and Peaceful Environment failed to show that overflights by the Navy’s newest electronic-warfare aircraft were worse than predicted in a 2005 environmental assessment of the flights’ impacts.
That assessment had been commissioned by the Navy as it transitioned to the newer Growler from the old EA-6G Prowler, The Seattle Times said.
In his a 29-page order, Zilly noted that the Navy has agreed to do a new environmental assessment based on residents’ complaints.
The group first sued in 2013. The case was stayed after the Navy agreed to temporarily suspend landings. The group sought an injunction in April after the Navy resumed operations in 2014.
Residents say the noise is causing depression, anxiety, insomnia, elevated blood pressure, anger and hearing loss.
Court documents say the Navy has been flying as many as 9,000 carrier-landing practices a year.
The Navy hopes to add up to 36 more Growlers to the 82 now operating on Whidbey Island.
The public comment period for the draft impact statement ended in January.
The final environmental impact statement is expected to be released in spring 2017.
A record of the decision on it, expected later that year, will specify any changes to current Growler operations at the air station.
The EA-18G EIS website is at www.whidbeyEIS.com. The Navy also has posted information on http://tinyurl.com/PDN-navyplans.
To contact the Navy, call 360-257-2286 or email whdb_naswi_pao@navy.mil.