Federal judge rules in favor of AG, COER on several issues in Navy Growler lawsuit

By Jessie Stensland

A federal magistrate judge ruled in favor of the state Attorney General’s Office and a Whidbey anti-noise group in several critical issues in a lawsuit over EA-18G Growler aircraft stationed at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station.

Chief United States Magistrate Judge J. Richard Creatura filed the report and recommendation in the case Friday. The parties have 14 days to file written objections.

In 2019, the state attorney general and Citizens of Ebey’s Reserve filed separate lawsuits, which were later joined into one, in U.S. District Court. They argued that the Navy violated the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, and other federal laws by not adequately analyzing the impacts an increased number of the Navy aircraft would have on the environment and the community.


Creatura did not pull any punches in his report, writing that the Navy selected methods of evaluating data that supported its goal of bringing more Growlers to NAS Whidbey.

“The Navy did this at the expense of the public and the environment, turning a blind eye to data that would not support this intended result,” he wrote. “Or, to borrow the words of noted sports analyst Vin Scully, the Navy appears to have used certain statistics ‘much like a drunk uses a lamppost: for support, not illumination.’”

https://www.whidbeynewstimes.com/news/federal-judge-rules-in-favor-of-ag-coer-on-several-issues-in-navy-growler-lawsuit/