PORT TOWNSEND — The City Council is weighing in on a proposal to increase the number of Navy Growlers originating from Whidbey Island, criticizing the Navy’s process and connecting that proposal to electronic warfare testing on the West End.
The council Monday night unanimously authorized Mayor David King and Councilwoman Michelle Sandoval to prepare a final version of the letter from a draft presented to the council.
The deadline for public comment on the Growler proposal is Friday.
Growler activity has prompted noise complaints from residents of Port Townsend and other areas of the North Olympic Peninsula.
“On behalf of the city of Port Townsend, we ask that all impacts of the Navy’s Electronic Warfare Testing and Training program be discussed in one comprehensive document,” the letter says.
The comments are on a proposal to add up to 36 EA-18G Growler jets to the 82 currently based at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, which is “to support an expanded Department of Defense mission for identifying, tracking and targeting in a complex electronic warfare environment,” according to the description at www.whidbeyeis.com.
A draft environmental impact statement on the Growler proposal does not address the impact of the electronic warfare project. Navy officials have said the two projects are separate.
The City Council disagrees, with King calling the four separate comment periods for Navy projects “confusing.”
In addition to the comment period, which closes Friday, on the Growler draft environmental impact statement, the three other comments periods were for:
■ An environmental assessment on the proposed use of Olympic National Forest roads for the electronic warfare range on the West End. Comment closed in August.
■ A special-use permit for use of Forest Service roads. That comment period closed Nov. 28.
■ A supplement to the draft environmental impact statement on the Northwest Training and Testing zone that deals with increases in use of sonar and explosives in an area that includes the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the waters off Indian Island and the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary.
That comment period closes Feb. 2.
“The public does not view these electronic warfare testing and training activities as separate, and the Navy’s separation of them into four distinct processes have caused, and continue to cause widespread confusion and frustration among the residents of the city,” the letter says.
“We believe that these separate evaluations fail to take into account the cumulative impacts of each of the four related proposals,” it continues.
“The lack of a cumulative impact analysis not only violates NEPA [National Environmental Policy Act], it give the impression that the Navy is trying to ‘game’ the system by doing a piecemeal analysis,” the letter says.
Sandoval and King were scheduled to meet by today on the 2,000-word, five-page letter, although the draft presented to council and viewable at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-Letter won’t substantially change, King said.
“The process has been scattered and not easy to understand,” King said Monday.
“We have no idea about the real cultural, environmental and even the financial impacts of these proposals.”
Sandoval said that if a private company were making these requests, it would be required to go through an environmental impact statement process.
“There is a tribal mentality, so if we make critical statements, they are interpreted as being anti-patriotic,” Sandoval said.
“I think that’s a shame. This has nothing to do with love of country; it is about process and the impact on the air, land and sea.”
Information on the Growler plan is available at www.whidbeyeis.com. Comments can be submitted there or to the EA-18G EIS Project Manager, Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Atlantic, Attn: Code EV21/SS, 6506 Hampton Blvd., Norfolk, VA 23508.
The Forest Service says at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-Electrowarfare that it will accept comments at any time on the special-use permit but that those received after the deadline “may not be able to be given full consideration” in the decision expected by the middle of this year at the earliest.
Comments can be submitted to Gregory Wahl, Olympic National Forest All Units, 437 Tillicum Lane, Forks, WA 98331, or emailed to gtwahl@fs.fed.us.
________
Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
