Editor,

While it may be easy and entertaining to print letters insulting Citizens of Ebey’s Reserve, serious questions go unexplored by the Examiner.

The debate is over whether Growler noise and the number of planned Navy flights exceed reasonable levels for the health and safety of Whidbey-area residents and their businesses — and why our elected federal officials aren’t being more transparent.

The Examiner can perform a public service by doing real research to get at the facts.

For instance, based on your research, what is the Growler’s noise level, and how does it compare to other Naval aircraft that have flown over Whidbey?  Can people from Port Townsend to Langley and from Greenbank to Camano be imagining a material increase in noise?  This presents you with a journalistic opportunity: Is the Growler’s noise over a reasonable limit?

If the Growler is unacceptably loud, how did that happen? As its manufacturer, was Boeing responsible? In development, was the noise issue too expensive to fix? Are mitigation repairs feasible?

Are there health problems with people in Oak Harbor and around OLF, as well with the Navy crews that service these planes? Are alternative landing fields available in less populated areas such as China Lake?

What can the Examiner independently find out about these and related matters?

Except for Mayor Nancy Conard and Commissioner Helen Price Johnson, no elected officials are leading here. Why?

Our U.S. senators and representatives, who are best situated to obtain information, appear too frightened of economic and political consequences to make inquiries and share the answers.

To be content to wait for an environmental impact statement authored by the Navy that takes years to complete is an insufficient response to the health and safety problems being raised by people who are suffering now.

Worse, do our elected representatives have the answers and are refusing to disclose them?

So the Examiner must ask our elected officials if they have this type of information, and, if they say no, ask them why they haven’t made inquiries.

And, even if Larsen, Murray and Cantwell refuse to be transparent, the Examiner should start a Frequently Asked Questions site available on its website, updating available information, presenting all sides’ factual submissions and their sources, and what your staff has found out, as well as what responses are given and what actions each of our federal representatives have taken.

As a veteran, I’m disappointed by people questioning the patriotism of Growler siting opponents. We all honor and value our service members. NAS Whidbey is executing its mission according to what it’s been ordered to do.

That doesn’t mean, however, that neighbors of operations who find them damaging or hazardous shouldn’t complain and should accept unquestioningly senior officials’ siting decisions.

Accepting what the Navy says at face value about the Growler makes no sense, especially for elected representatives and a newspaper.

So I ask: Can our elected officials be more transparent? Can the Examiner do more?

Daniel A. Walker

Greenbank