COER’s 4 - Year History of Civic Engagement
Whidbey Islanders have a history of pushing back on military encroachment. During the 80’s and 90’s Islanders, led by Coupeville, objected to noisy ‘Prowler’ jet training. They took the Navy to court, won concessions and even compensation. Then came the Growlers, the loudest jets yet to fly.
The Citizens of Ebey’s Reserve (COER), today’s activists for a rural and peaceful Whidbey, have been working since late 2012 to protect what we hold dear. We continue to challenge obstructions to our democratic principles when we see them from: The County Board of Health, our County Commissioners, and the Navy.
In many ways, we have been local ‘First Responders’ or ‘Whistle Blowers’ to a potential community disaster. We have unearthed many inconvenient truths.
Today we continue to work in collaboration with other groups to challenge overt military expansion in Puget Sound. We are beginning to prepare for the legal challenge to the final EIS that will be published by the Navy in 2018. We are in this to win – to move the Growler trainings elsewhere where the airfield and environment is better suited to their noise.
COER has paved the way for other groups throughout the region and on Whidbey Island.
Our efforts have supported emerging groups to challenge the extensive militarization of our communities in Puget Sound: Quiet Skies of Lopez, STOP and POP in the Olympics, the Coupeville Community Allies, the Sustainable Economic Collaborative, The Whidbey Water Keepers, and the Pacific West Coast Alliance, now made up of eleven groups throughout Puget Sound. We feel validated by The National Park Service that did a six-week Acoustic Study over the Reserve that supported COER’s two independent Noise Studies of real sound in real locations.
Our civilian society requires active citizens to maintain our freedoms.
Some of the things COER has done in implementing those objectives include:
· Began the dialog about Growler noise right after the Navy’s 2012 EA was completed.
· Completed two independent noise studies of the EA-18 G Growlers using the Outlying Field in Coupeville in real time - not modeled.
· Created a website to house information from citizens for citizens about noise, health, safety and ways to get involved.
· Filed a Federal lawsuit to stop the Growlers from using the OLF until an Environmental Statement (EIS) was done on the transition to 52 Growlers by the U.S. Navy at OLF.
· Stopped the Growlers from using OLF for over 8 months in 2013 and held the Navy to a maximum of 6,100 operations at that field from 2013 through early 2017.
· Went to Washington D.C. to talk to Washington’s Congressional delegation and the Pentagon about the Growlers on Whidbey Island and their one-site policy to have All Growlers at NASWI.
· Helped people feel safe enough to ask questions and voice objections to toxic noise and now water contamination.
· Filed scores of requests for documents related to Growlers, noise, and our health and safety under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), to the Navy, the County and the Town of Coupeville.
· Completed research on the health impacts of noise on children and adults and filed affidavits in Federal court
· Provided educational presentations and community groups from the Olympic Peninsula to the San Juan’s and helped create new community groups.
· Provided written information to local and national leaders about the impacts of the Navy Growlers on our health and communities
· Initiated letter writing and call-in campaigns to Congressional offices.
· Provided radio interviews throughout the region on the facts and issues at play.
· Wrote press releases and articles
· Helped create a new regional organization to bring other groups together to fight the militarization of Puget Sound: The Pacific Northwest Coast Alliance – now 11 groups strong
· Filed an injunction with the 9th Federal Court to stop the Growlers from using the Outlying Fields until the EIS was completed
· Attended and spoke at Island County Commissioner and Board of Health meetings.
· Filed a complaint to the State Board of Health against the Island County Board of Health for not taking action on the public health issues of noise. This is the State Board of Health’s first investigation of a County BOH in 25 years.
· Hired professional national experts to comment on the DEIS in the fields of noise and health.
· Inspired the creation of two new Whidbey Island Groups, Coupeville Community Allies and Sustainable Economic Collaborative.
· Organized meetings on water, supported the creation of new group of Water Keepers, and supported a website for citizens to get information from sources other than the Navy about water contamination on Whidbey Island as a result of the Navy.
In addition COER has spent thousands of dollars securing input from internationally renown acoustic and environmental health experts. And we have spent days of personal time compiling comprehensive comments on the draft EIS. Those are now available on our website: http://citizensofebeysreserve.com/blog/join-our-response-to-DEIS. Those comments examine the broad failures of the DEIS to meet the legal necessities of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
On the human side, there are wide-ranging impacts of flight carrier landing practice (FCLP) in Central Whidbey that the draft EIS has no answer for.
· Nothing about the young Admirals Cove family, typical of so many, who had to uproot from under the jet path to protect their two young children and unborn child (they tell their story at http://citizensofebeysreserve.com/Index.html scroll down to “When Your House is No Longer Safe”).
· Nothing about the kids and parents who unknowingly expose their children at the Rhododendron Ballpark to toxic Growler noise with so many potential hearing ramifications (see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwxYpCa09-E&sns=em ) .
· Nothing about the economic impact of the noise on the ability to conduct business or on the owners of vacation rentals who have to refund rentals when the jets are flying, or on main street businesses who rely on tourists, or Coupeville’s budget that relies on these businesses to balance their books. Read: http://sustainable-economy-collaborative.com.
· Nothing about the young man who had to quit his job at the recycle center adjacent to the FCLP path, and also had to move his nearby family as well. He tells his story at http://citizensofebeysreserve.com/LinksAndFiles.html (scroll down toVideos of the Jets Flying Low and Loud Over Residential Areas: #1 - #2 - #3 - #4 - #5 Videos of the Jets Flying Low and Loud Over Residential Areas: #1 - #2 - #3 - #4 - #5 “Videos of the Jets Flying Low and Loud Over Residential Areas: #1 - #2 - #3 - #4 - #5” and watch all five videos)
· Nothing about the young farmers who can’t harvest crops for market because under Occupational Health and Safety laws – the jet noise is too dangerous to be outside in the fields.
These and thousands of similar anecdotes tell the untold story about the impacts of Growler FCLP operations just over Central Whidbey. It does not include the extensive impacts throughout Puget Sound. Additionally, the risks of future crashes at OLFC because of proposed increased flight training, put Central Whidbey and the town of Coupeville’s water supply at risk.
These impacts are solvable: the Growlers can conduct low-level FCLPs where they would not create these insurmountable problems. The Growlers can conduct their electromagnetic warfare training where they train now in Idaho. The problem is created out of Navy convenience and preference, rather than of necessity. That choice is the heart of COER’s position and it is widely supported.
In that regard, the highly respected and Nobel Prize winning organization, Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility (WPSR), has endorsed COER's efforts to relocate FCLPs. The WPSR discussed COER’s efforts to move the Growlers away from populous Whidbey Island and surroundings at a previous board meeting recently. After carefully considering all of the evidence, their Board expressed grave concerns over the likely adverse health impact and subsequently voted to endorse COER’s mission to close OLFC and move the Growler FCLP operations to a far less populous alternative location.