Editor,

The so-called “hush house” being touted by Congressman Rick Larsen and the Navy will not solve the Growler jet noise problem. It may give some relief to those impacted by “run-ups” of jets on the ground, but it will do nothing to address the documented levels of harmful noise caused by jets flying over our homes, schools and parks.

The Navy’s own environmental study identifies rarely mentioned single-event flyover noise levels that we actually experience.

Buried in the pages of the of 2013 report on Navy P-8 jets are modeled Growler noise levels for Oak Harbor’s Clover Valley School and Olympic View Elementary School. They are 111 and 109 decibels respectively. Noise at Oak Harbor’s City Beach Park is 109, and Deception State Park, where our tourists are already being given jet noise warnings, is 112 decibels. La Connor Middle School is 92 and Picnic Point in Anacortes 90.

All of these noise levels exceed 85 decibels — where the Navy admits that hearing damage begins – and far exceed levels where learning is affected. And they don’t even reflect increased noise that will come with the additional Growlers now being sought by the Navy.

None of this will be reduced with a “hush house,” neither will noise associated with the OLF or Growler Warfare Training over the Olympic National Park and Forest be reduced — not by a single decibel.

The “hush house” won’t solve the Navy jet noise problem — or silence victims. The best solution is to relocate Growlers from Whidbey.

Richard Abraham

Greenbank Noise Victim