Contributed photo / Gene Helfman
INSIDE
Southern Resident orcas swim through Active Pass, B.C. In the foreground is Se-Yi’-Chn J45. In the middle is his mom, Samish J14, and in the background is his older sister, Suttles J40.
Letters
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Harvest Dinner
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Cancer awareness
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VOLUME 37, NUMBER 41 • OCTOBER 14, 2014
Larsen discusses jet noise By Cali Bagby Weekly editor
She was gardening when they came. She said she could see their faces. She said it was as if she could reach up and touch the body of the jet. She said it was so loud she was knocked to the ground. “It is degrading, humiliating and disempowering,” she said. Nancy Koenig was one of nearly 100 people who filled the seats at Lopez Center on Oct. 7 to voice concern over the jet noise to Representative Rick Larsen. The noise from thousands of engine tests and training runs by new EA 18G “Growlers” and other planes at Naval Air Station Whidbey and Outlying Landing Field Coupeville has generated outcry this
year mainly from Lopez Island. In June, islanders showed up at Larsen’s campaign kickoff asking him to hold a meeting on Lopez to discuss the issue. Four months later, the congressman made his way to the island. San Juan County
Councilman Jamie Stephens opened the meeting by saying the county and the Lopez community wants to work with the Navy. Over the last several months the county council collected data from islanders on a jet noise complaint website and sent that infor-
LOPEZ LOBOS Home Games This Week: 10/14 Volleyball vs. Providence 2:30 10/16 Volleyball vs. Skykomish TBA 10/17 Soccer vs. Providence 2:30 ‘The Pack’
Look Who’s Turning
70!
(Bruce Gregg of Lopez Island)
Christa Malay Art Show with 20 new oil paintings benefiting Lopez Childrens’ Center at Woodmen Hall Oct. 17 - 5-7 p.m. & Oct. 18 - 11-4 p.m.
Contributed photo / Cali Bagby
Above: Rick Larsen. mation to Navy officials and Larsen. The website received 871 reports mostly concentrated on the south end of Lopez. Two hundred and eighteen of those reports came from 6 a.m. to noon and 224 came after 9 p.m. The data also shows that 150 people reported a low rumble and 240 reported extremely loud noise. According to Stephens, Navy officials requested that people did not try to record decibels of sounds on their iPhones as it would not be accurate, but then claimed that the report was lacking this important sound data. Stephens added that the Navy made no effort in its response letter to fix the problem. The councilman then shared some possible solutions like having the Navy do sound testing in the islands, informing islanders when there would be jet noise, restricting flights over the island and having congress require the Navy to make a quieter engine. Larsen responded that he alone does not have the power to require the Navy to make a different engine. He did say that he felt like the Whidbey base did not act as a power unto itself and Navy officials want to SEE JET, PAGE 8