Summary New court order mandates US Navy to update environmental studies by May 1, 2025. COER seeks to vacate 2019 Record of Decision on field carrier landing practice distribution. Moving EA-18G Growler operations may pose challenges as NAF El Centro is facing logistics issues.
On August 16, the United States Western District of Washington District Court’s Judge Richard A. Jones signed an order that, in part, requires the US Navy to study changing Boeing EA-18G Growler operations from NAS Whidbey Island in Washington State to Southern California’s NAF El Centro. The judicial order arises from multi-year litigation against a US Navy environmental impact study effort that started in 2013 due to some NAS Whidbey Island neighbors not being happy about Boeing EA-18G Growler sounds.
New court order for further study The August 16 order, document #161, in case #2:19-cv-01059-RAJ, requires the US Navy to update its 2019 Environmental Impact Study (EIS) , resulting in a record of decision with the additional data according to a reference to document 119: “Plaintiffs’ claims other than their claims that defendants violated NEPA by failing to disclose the basis for greenhouse gas emissions calculations, failing to quantify the impact of increased operations on classroom learning, failing to take a hard look at species-specific impacts on birds, and failing to give detailed consideration to the El Centro, California, alternative, are dismissed with prejudice.” In document 161,.