A tense room full of passionate constituents was about evenly divided when it came to the subject of jet noise Tuesday night.

And while Navy jets on Whidbey Island were the most discussed topic, it wasn’t the only thing on the minds of constituents who packed the Coupeville Rec Hall and grilled U.S. Congressman Rick Larsen on the issue.

The Town Hall meeting was part a series held by Larsen throughout his district in late March and early April.

“What are you doing to make sure the Navy complies with the National Environmental Protection Act?” asked Ken Pickard, a member of Citizens of Ebey’s Reserve, a group that sued the Navy over jet noise last year.

A woman who said she lives “under the flight pattern of OLF” invited Larsen to her home to experience the sound.

“I’d like to invite you to my home so you can hear what we are living under,” the woman said to a round of applause. “As you can see, I’m an old lady. How can you support the Navy and the (Outlying Field Coupeville)?”

Frank Scharwat told the group that the Navy jets have caused $13,000 in damage when they blew out the windows on his Keystone Spit home during touch-and-go flights at OLF.

“They’re lazy, they don’t care or they’re bad neighbors,” Scharwat said of the jet pilots. “If that’s not damage I don’t know what is.”

Harry Toulgoat encouraged an “intelligent use of resources” in regard to the Navy’s presence on an island that promotes tourism.

“Why are you destroying the very place we want to invite people to?” Toulgoat asked. “This is not national security, this is nonsense.”

The issue of jet noise has reached a fevered pitch in recent years as the Navy has transitioned from the EA-6B Prowler to the EA-18G Growler, an aircraft many believe is louder.

In an effort to balance the discussion about jet noise, the Oak Harbor Area Council of the Navy League organized a group of veterans, retirees and military supporters to show their support at the Town Hall, according to member Skip Pohtilla.

“The Navy supporters aren’t being heard as much as the others,” Pohtilla said after the event.

A man who said he lives in the Dugualla Bay area on North Whidbey, which also experiences jet noise, said “it’s noisy, yes, but it’s something we live with.”

Larsen made no bones about his support for the EA-18G Growlers based at NAS Whidbey, drawing applause from Navy supporters present.

“I will not change my position,” Larsen said. “What I’m trying to do is find a pathway to mitigation. I don’t go into this believing I’m going to please a lot of people.”

Larsen said he considers it a “victory of sorts folks on Lopez” Island because the Navy has started requiring pilots to keep landing gear up when flying near the San Juans.

Larsen said “informal” sound testing shows it lowers the decibel level from 90 to 70.

“I think that proves that the Navy is trying to be a good neighbor,” Larsen said, drawing laughter from a handful of attendees.

One man raised the topic of ongoing Growler training over the Olympic Peninsula, which has been a growing concern among those who do not support the Navy’s basing of the Growler in the Northwest.

Larsen said that the Navy conducted an environmental assessment and found “no significant impact,” even though “some folks think they should have done an environmental impact statement,” a more in-depth investigation.

The Navy plans to add radio wave emitters for the Growlers to track as part of their training.

“I don’t see that it’s much more than what it is now,” Larsen said.

A broad number of other initiatives and questions were lobbed at Larsen.

Ron Wallace asked Larsen to work to “get us off oil energy.”

A woman who identified herself as a U.S. postal carrier said she was “quite concerned about the way the Postal Service has been under attack” and asked Larsen to “help us sponsor changes to fight for six-day mail services.”

Addressing a question from a teacher about ineffectual “high stakes testing” in schools, Larsen said No Child Left Behind legislation needs to be reformed to “measure the progress of individual kids.”

Larsen also said teacher evaluations should not be attached to child performance because “it’s not fair to teachers and it’s not fair to students.”

In response to a concern about carbon dioxide emissions and it’s affect on shellfish throughout the country, Larsen said he supports a proposal to have the Environmental Protection Agency regulate the emissions.

Real change on this front will “starts on a grassroots level,” Larsen said, “but it’s a long-term battle.”