Military Jet Training in the Pacific NW Threatens Public Health and the Environment

Miki Barnes
July 2, 2024

Communities across the U.S. are increasingly under attack by various branches of the U.S. military. Rather than confining their training exercises to military bases, the Navy, Air Force and Air National Guard are aggressively encroaching on civilian airspace. In the process they are degrading the livability of local communities, causing serious harms to human health, polluting the environment, contributing to global warming, and damaging fragile ecosystems. In many respects it appears that the U.S. military has declared war on its own citizens, the very people they are sworn to protect.

Navy Growlers over Whidbey Island Imperil Health of Local Residents

Below are the opening paragraphs of a 5/9/2024 University of Washington report by Alden Woods and Kiyomi Taguchi entitled Navy Growler Jet Noise over Whidbey Island Could Impact 74,000 People's Health.

Bob Wilbur thought he'd found a retirement home that would be a place of peace. Nestled against Admiralty Bay on the western edge of Whidbey Island, the three-story house is surrounded by trees and shoreline. It offers the kind of quiet that only an island can provide. Except when the Growlers fly.

As often as four days a week, Boeing EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft based at the nearby Naval Air Station Whidbey Island fly loops overhead as pilots practice touch-and-go landings. The noise is immense, around the level of a loud rock concert. "It interrupts your day," Wilbur said. "You're unable to have a pleasant evening at home. You can't communicate. You constantly try to organize your day around being gone when the jets are flying."

New research from the University of Washington shows that the noise isn't just disruptive – it presents a substantial risk to public health. Published May 9 in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, an analysis of the Navy's own acoustic monitoring data found that more than 74,000 people are exposed to noise levels associated with adverse health effects.

"Military aircraft noise is substantially more intense and disturbing than commercial jet noise," said lead author Giordano Jacuzzi, a graduate student in the UW College of the Environment. "Noise exposure has many downstream effects beyond just annoyance and stress – high levels of sleep disturbance, hearing impairment, increased risk of cardiovascular disease – these have real impacts on human health and quality of life. We also found that several schools in the area are exposed to levels that have been shown to put children at risk of delayed learning."

To access the full article click here.

In a 2022 decision, "A federal judge ruled that the U.S. Navy's environmental review process for the Growler jet program expansion on Whidbey Island illegally failed to analyze the impacts of the noisy, often low-flying jets on classroom learning and local birds – a violation of the National Environmental Policy Act. This is the latest legal setback for the Navy in Attorney General Bob Ferguson's lawsuit challenging the Whidbey Island Growler expansion."

To access the 8/3/2022 press release from the Washington State Office of the Attorney General, AG Ferguson: Court Rules Navy Failed to Consider the Damaging Impacts of Its Growler Jet Program click here.

Owyhee Canyonlands Under Threat from U.S. Air Force F-15 Training Flights

Below are excerpts from the Introduction of a legal filing by three environmental groups – Oregon Natural Desert Association, Friends of Nevada Wilderness and Idaho Conservation League – challenging the Air Force's decision "to dramatically expand and intensify military aircraft training over the Owyhee Canyonlands of Oregon, Idaho, and Nevada, as set forth in the July 2023 Record of Decision ("ROD") and March 2023 Environmental Impact Statement ("EIS") entitled "Airspace Optimization for Readiness, Mountain Home Air Force Base."

"The Owyhee Canyonlands are a vast and wild landscape of rolling sagebrush steppe and hundreds of miles of deep, rugged canyons punctuated by honeycomb-like spires, caldera rims, and mountain ranges. Spanning thousands of square miles where Oregon, Idaho, and Nevada converge, this high-desert landscape supports hundreds of species of fish, wildlife, and plants, some of which are so unique and rare that they appear nowhere else on earth. People prize the Owyhee for its unfragmented beauty and quietude and have been living on, working, and enjoying this landscape for thousands of years."

This "Owyhee Airspace Optimization" decision will increase noise, habitat fragmentation, fire risk, and other impacts of F-15 fighter jet overflights from the Mountain Home Air Force Base by allowing low altitude supersonic and subsonic fighter training exercises across some 7.5 million acres of the Owyhee Canyonlands, spanning three states, including over Wilderness Areas, Wild and Scenic Rivers, and key habitats for imperiled greater sage-grouse and bighorn sheep. More frequent and low-level flights jeopardize the quiet and solitude of the Owyhee Canyonlands region that is prized by Plaintiffs and their members.

The Owyhee Airspace Optimization decision will have substantial adverse effects on wildlife, wildlands, watersheds, and communities in the area. By flying lower than the top of a tall tree, military jets will dramatically increase noise levels and permanently alter the soundscape throughout these rural and wild areas of national significance. Resulting noise levels and visual intrusions will disturb and harm people who work or recreate outside, along with iconic but imperiled species like bighorn sheep and sage-grouse.

By failing to take a "hard look" at adverse impacts and mitigation measures, consider a reasonable range of alternatives, and fully engage the public, the Air Force failed to provide for the informed agency decision making and meaningful public participation required by the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA") and its implementing regulations, in violation of NEPA and the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA"). Accordingly, and because the Air Force's EIS and ROD are arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law, this Court should set aside and vacate the EIS and ROD for the Owyhee Airspace Optimization decision.

To read the entire complaint click here.



Crater Lake/Klamath Falls Targeted for F-35 Training Base (Comment by 7/11/2024)

The F-35A Lightning II is a lethal war machine that has been approved to carry B61-12 nuclear weapons. According to the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center Fact Sheet, this aircraft "...is designed to replace aging fighter inventories including U.S. Air Force F-16s and A-10s, U.S. Navy F/A-18s, U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harriers and F/A-18s, and U.K. Harrier GR.7s and Sea Harriers."

The 173rd Squadron of the Oregon National Guard has recently announced plans to bring F-35's to the Kingsley Field Air National Guard Base located at the Crater Lake/Klamath Regional Airport.

According to their 6/18/2024 announcement NGB to Host Public Scoping Meeting for Kingsley Field F-35 EIS, the National Guard held an in-person meeting on 6/24/2024.

Portions of the announcement appear below.

The National Guard Bureau (NGB) and Department of the Air Force are preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the basing of an F-35A Lightning II Formal Training Unit at Kingsley Field Air National Guard Base at the Crater Lake-Klamath Regional Airport. The EIS will assess the potential environmental consequences of this proposed basing action. The F-35A aircraft are being acquired in support of the Air National Guard (ANG) mission. These aircraft would replace the legacy fighter aircraft (F-15C/D) at the 173d Fighter Wing installation.

Public comments must be submitted in written format by July 11, 2024 to be considered in the preparation of the Draft EIS. Comments received after the close of the public comment period will be reviewed but may not be specifically addressed in the Draft EIS.

You may submit written comments in one of the following ways:

Public scoping is the first step in the Environmental Impact Analysis Process. Using input obtained during this meeting, the NGB will refine the study to focus on significant issues, as well as eliminate issues that are not significant from further detailed study. In addition, following the meeting, the NGB will conduct a detailed analysis of potential impacts of the proposal. The complete analysis will be presented in the Draft EIS, which will be provided for public review and comment in the Spring of 2025.

For More Information

Visit the project website at www.kingsleyfieldF35EIS.com or contact the 173rd Fighter Wing Public Affairs Office at 541-885-6677.

To read the entire announcement click here.



F-35 Program - "Both a Scandal and Tragedy"

More than 8 years ago, Senator John McCain, then Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee accurately stated, "The F-35 program's record of performance has been both a scandal and a tragedy with respect to cost, schedule and performance...It's a textbook example of why this committee has placed such a high priority on reforming the broken defense acquisition system." For additional details on this hearing click here.

Per Defense News, "The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's total cost is expected to top $2 trillion over its entire life span...This same article gives a breakdown on the costs per aircraft. "The Air Force is now spending $6.6 million each year to operate and sustain the average F-35A. That's a shade under the $6.8 million the service now has budgeted to fly each jet annually – but well over the original goal of $4.1 million." Plus there is the additional cost of the aircraft itself which according to Simply Flying is $102.1 million each.

Needless to say, these costs are passed on to taxpayers whose health and quality of life are under attack by these aircraft.

F-35's Degrading Impact on Burlington, Vermont

F-35's have already had a devastating impact on Vermont residents, ever since the Air National Guard started flying out of the Burlington International Airport in 2019. These aircraft were foisted on the community despite widespread opposition.

To access a collection of articles posted by Vermont's Save Our Skies (SOS) From the F-35's website documenting the noise, disruption, and other negative impacts click here.

F-35's Invade Madison, Wisconsin

Similar issues have arisen in Madison, Wisconsin over disruptive Air National Guard F-35 fighter jets flying out of Truax Field. For additional details click here.

In a 2/20/2020 Safe Skies Clean Water Wisconsin website posting, pediatrician and member of Physicians for Social Responsibility, Elizabeth Neary, commented on the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) prepared by the national guard on their decision to fly F-35's out of Truax Field. Dr. Neary identified some of the health impacts of aviation noise on children, "Heightened noise interruptions can lead to delayed speech development, reduced attention, impaired concentration, long-term memory issues and decreased math and reading comprehension. The EIS includes a section on the impact of noise on children, citing studies that have found a linear relation between chronic aircraft noise exposure and impaired reading comprehension and recognition memory."

To access the article in full click here.

To access a 1/10/2024 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on this issue click here.

Portland Air National Guard Receives Funding for Major Expansion

According to a 6/1/2024 Oregon Public Broadcasting report, Oregon Air National Guard Base Set to Receive New Jets and a Massive Overhaul, the Oregon National Guard located at the Portland international Airport (PDX) is planning a massive expansion.

Excerpts from the report appear below.

In one of the biggest overhauls of Oregon's military in a generation, the state's Air National Guard base in Portland is about to take control of 18 new jets and undergo hundreds of millions of dollars worth of infrastructure improvements.

"This is an immense deal for Oregon," said Lt. Col Scott Wilcox, commander of the 142nd Civil Engineering Squadron.

Starting this summer, the Oregon Air National Guard will get the first of about 18 new F-15EX planes at a cost of $95 million each, a total of about $1.7 billion.

The old planes will go to other Air National Guard bases and be broken up for parts.

Made by Boeing, the new fighter is full of secret military technology, so the base will also need a new hangar. That construction is estimated to cost another $110 million.

To read the entire article click here.

In addition, a 3/27/2024 announcement from Senator Jeff Merkley's office, stated that he and Senator Wyden were instrumental in securing two awards for the 142 Wing of the Oregon Air National Guard – $20 million to be used towards Phase 3 and $11 million for Phase 4 of a project "to consolidate training facilities for the 125th Special Tactics Squadron, as the current buildings used for training are set to be returned to the Port of Portland in 2030. The funding for both awards for the Oregon AIR National Guard will increase operational and energy efficiencies and reduce overall maintenance costs. Once complete, this center is expected to become a West Coast training hub and will be a draw for the 125th Special Tactics Squadron in addition to those looking for specialized training." Click here for additional details.

To access a 10/26/2023 Breaking Defense article on the F-15EX click here.

Take Action

Click here to sign Code Pink's Ground the F-35 petition.

As stated on their website, "Over 220 global organizations are calling for a complete cancellation of the F-35 program. Add your name to express support for defunding the program and investing the massive F-35 budget into life affirming programs like healthcare, education, and housing!"

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