The following is an excerpt from Stop 22 More Growlers!! posted on the Citizens Harmed by Disclosure Deception web site. Go there for the full story, extensive documentation, and directions for contacting the committee in Washington D.C. that makes these decisions. A campaign is underway to stop this escalation and ensure that any plans for military capability include funds for civilian protection. Here is the link: http://disclosuredeception.wordpress.com/stop-22-more-growlers/
Stop 22 More Growlers and the Navy’s Plans for up to 70 More
It’s been disruptive, stressful, and loud. And unbelievably, the Navy plans to double the assault on civilians! The Navy is requesting that 22 ADDITIONAL Growlers be built and permanently based here for U.S. pilot training, and there are plans for up to 70 more.In addition, the military is training pilots from other countries at the Naval Air Station, Whidbey Island (NASWI) who will purchase planes from the Boeing plant in St. Louis. Australian pilots have already trained here, and others are on the way.
More and louder!
Training has been drastically modified over the past year with fewer and quieter operations. The Navy is now ramping up to “full volume” flying. Standards for Growler training require low altitude (250-350 feet over homes in many places) and almost full thrust (85%-100% for some distance from both ends of a bounce) because it simulates carrier landings and is essential for pilot safety.
What impact will 92 more Growlers have on our already degraded physical and emotional health and greatly reduced quality of life? The health emergency is well documented, but like nicotine causing cancer, the cause and effects are hard to prove for any one individual. But hearing loss and potentially fatal health problems from off-the-charts noise is statistically probable, especially for children. In addition, there are people with a variety of serious health issues like heart problems, cancer, depression, diabetes, and immune deficiencies who moved to Coupeville because the hospital is close at hand and the area was quiet and peaceful. Many were deceived at purchase, and there is ample evidence that the stressful, constant roar of Growlers will likely worsen these conditions. For some, a move away from the noise is impossible. Can we wait for the completion of the next EIS and the probable rubber stamp “No Impact” as the Navy “studies” the effect of 22 and then 70 more?
Our problem won’t be solved in Washington State. We must move our battle to Washington D.C where these decisions are made. We have turned repeatedly to our local leaders to represent and protect us, and we have been ignored. Should this be a surprise? The number of voters being abused and persecuted is two or three thousand, while the number of voters seeing abuse as a requirement for their financial stability and life-style is in the hundreds of thousands and probably in the millions. We have seen how even small acts of support by our representatives have been met with ridicule from this majority of voters.
National defense and civilian protection must be planned and budgeted together by both the military and by Congress. Without clear goals for both defense and protection, civilians can easily be seen as obstacles to national defense and discounted as collateral damage. Congress has left the Navy free to break every noise law ever written for any US city, county, or state. Warnings from the World Health Organization and even the Department of Defense have been ignored. Congress must reinstate civilian protection as a requirement for the Navy, as they are mandated to do by the Constitution. The Navy can both defend the nation and protect their civilian neighbors. One does not preclude the other.
Congressional leaders do not know the extent of the abuse and persecution of people living in the noise zones surrounding NASWI and it is time for us to tell them. These military decisions must be fully informed.
We must tell Congress our story and ask Congress to act, starting with the Armed Services Committee (ASC) members in both the House and Senate. These ASC Committee members make the decisions on additional Growlers. The offices of all Committee members in both the House and Senate have already received the ASC Open Letter explaining the injustice of what has been done and the effect on this community. The letter requests that each member work to:
1. SET NAVY LIMITS. The Navy cannot police itself; therefore, Congress must.
2. FUND CIVILIAN PROTECTION. Any funding for military escalation should include funding to protect civilians against noise abuse. In this instance, at the very least, alternatives must be found and the OLF moved.
You can tell Congress you agree and tell your story. We can stand together and be heard because our message has not been voiced to these key decision-makers in Congress who vote on these matters. Many will recognize that defense does not require abuse. They can support or even champion our cause because they will not lose an election in doing so. These ASC members are your best hope. They are the decision-makers and a decision is imminent.
Are you ready to act?
Check your level of motivation. Really visualize and compare the following:
1. Your life, with the Navy operating the Growlers elsewhere.
2. Your life if the Navy continues its escalation of the number of Growlers with no limits on how and where they fly
Will you take a moment and really see both, make a comparison, and decide? Or, will you put off deciding what you are willing to work toward and settle for what comes? Every time you hear the jets flying and think, “I can’t stand those jets” continue on with “I can do something significant to stop it, and I am going to, right now.”
Much effort has gone into researching contact information for these decision makers and providing help for contacting them. Visit Stop 22 More Growlers!! ( http://disclosuredeception.wordpress.com/stop-22-more-growlers/) Scroll down to Community Call-Out to Congress Campaign for directions, samples, and hints to make contact easier.
Join in this effort. We need your help to stop this escalation now. Let’s act together and make our Whidbey Island lifestyle what it was, can, and should be!
please also visit http://Citizensofebeysreserve.com for more information.
That plane in the photo is right where it would be over Admiral’s Cove, at about that altitude and distance, before it drops over the hill to land. Everyone who hasn’t experienced that location should take a little field trip and sit there for an hour during training so they know what they are talking about when they criticize people who want them gone. The Lilly study measured 119 dba and 134 db somewhere near there, way over the 100 decibels in the new disclosure, and definitely requiring not even a second in time for permanent ear damage. Never mind heart, kidney, etc etc problems. Its drop dead deafening. No study has measured what it does because noise that loud isn’t allowed anywhere else because it is ILLEGAL. Only the Navy gets to break the law unless Congress tells them no more. I’m going to paste that photo into an email to the Armed Services Committee and tell them to read their Open Letter again and really think about what we go through. No more. No more. thanks for providing the email addresses. Click, email opens, and paste. Simple.
Del, we can solve this really fast you know?
New OLF would take over 10 years.
Eminent Domain would take a lot less.
So sick of the claiming of “health emergency” over oh a few seconds per bounce of loudness then almost quiet for a few minutes then loudness then quiet. You should get compensated, that’s for sure.
If my friends and I want to risk our hearing, put the earplugs in or earphones on and have a good time – that’s our choice and we have NO claim to make because we know what we’re doing. But those who didn’t know and bought property instead of having a choice to buy somewhere quiet, different story.
I hope you can get out from under the jets soon. I’ll make sure to demand eminent domain. The greedy realtor$ will hate my COJONES for it too.
God you freeking clowns are beyond stupid see what happens if you piss of congress with this stupid shit and they pull the navy out you could kiss this area goodbye. Christ look back to the 90’s when you fought to keep the base open really you tards are as bad as the dumb ass sitting in the presidents office saying that he was not responsible for the troops being pulled out of Iraq