Ferguson sues over the law, not feelings

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Christine Cribb’s letter (Leader, July 24) shows an egregious lack of knowledge, and what appear to be purposefully misleading statements and name-calling.

She cites a total of “nearly $1.04 billion” which is what the Navy says it puts into the local economy, but this figure is highly inflated, and it does not consider any of the financial costs to the community of Whidbey Island. The actual amount the Navy activity contributes is $559 million before costs. A study done by independent economist Michael Shumann shows that the Navy presence on Whidbey Island costs its citizens 122 million dollars over ten years; not including costs to the schools and social services because the Navy pays no taxes.

She states that “businesses are outraged”. Yet merchants in Coupeville cannot conduct business due to nearly constant jet noise that limits their ability to speak with their customers, and farmers market vendors cannot sell their produce because the Navy has not cleaned up the water table that they poisoned with PFOs and PFOAs, so their produce no longer qualifies as organic.

She says Attorney General Ferguson filed his lawsuit on behalf of a “small group of self-interested, divisive activists”. No, he filed it on behalf of the State of Washington, to have the Navy correct their Environmental Impact Statement upon which they based their decision to increase from 6,100 to 24,100 flights per year at Coupeville, and a total of 100,000 flights at both NAS Whidbey airfields (Ault and OLF). Flouting the law is not acceptable for our armed forces.

She says Ferguson’s lawsuit does not represent the feelings of a vast majority of Whidbey’s residents. Even if that statement were correct, which it is not, it would not matter, because the lawsuit isn’t about feelings. It’s about the law.

Laurie Riley
Port Townsend