Editor,

On behalf of the Sound Defense Alliance, we want to thank all who attended the Navy’s three public meetings on April 1, 2 and 3, held in response to the Navy’s 2025 Draft Amended Analysis to the 2018 Environmental Impact Statement for EA-18G “Growler” Airfield Operations at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.

As the Draft Amended Analysis was publicly released on March 14, the timeline was tight for local groups and our organization to share information about these meetings. Additionally, the Navy only held two in-person open houses, both on Whidbey Island — despite Growler jet training impacting at least seven counties across the region. The third public meeting was virtual and required the submission of questions well in advance.

This limited opportunities for in-person comment submission and interactions by people in the San Juan Islands, Skagit County, Port Townsend and other locations on the Olympic Peninsula impacted by jet noise. These areas should have been provided with equal opportunity to respond and participate in public involvement for the Draft Amended Analysis.

In response to questions regarding the tight turnaround, the Navy has responded that due to the federal judge’s May 1 deadline for the completion of Amended Analysis, they were not able to provide more time for the public involvement. In this explanation, the Navy failed to include that the judge had set a one year time-frame for this work to be completed but due to the Navy’s (eventually dropped) appeal, they delayed their own start time.

The consequences of this left the public approximately one month for analysis of the document — a time period that was much too short to give a proper review of its limitations. Additionally, the Draft Amended Analysis was, in our opinion, not an adequate response to the issues which Judge Jones required the Navy to address with further study, research and analysis.

You can review the document and submit your comments in response to this analysis, which must be postmarked or submitted online by April 28th. See details on comment submission by visiting the project website at www.nepa.navy.mil/growler.

Thank you for your involvement in this process to hold our Navy accountable to keeping our communities safe and being a good neighbor.

Anne Harvey

Sound Defense Alliance