Noise a health, safety and economic issue

Gale Fiege did a good job preparing her Sept. 9 article on the Coupeville Outlying Field. (“Camano Islanders split over Navy jet noise”). What she and many OLF supporters do not understand is the impact on life that folks actually living under the OLF practice path cope with.

Most folks hearing jets crossing at high altitude (one here or there, maybe at 60-75 decibels) are proud to be home to the Navy and wonder what the big deal is. Here are some facts that might help them understand the deal:

1) The OLF practice path is basically a tight circle with two to five jets going around in a constant loop with a practice landing in the middle (i.e., touch down and immediate take off) of each loop. With four jets flying, about 15 seconds elapse between jets crossing overhead. Those jets will go around for about 35 minutes and then leave, but soon follows the next group of jets.

2) Yes, many folks living under the OLF path did sign notices about jet noise, but that notice provided not even an inkling of what the impact might be, so many trusted and were duped. And what about the 33 percent of Coupeville residents who didn’t sign the notice?

3) The undisclosed impact hidden in that notice is hours upon hours of life-straining noise from the 80 decibel range between jets overhead to highs of 115-120 decibels 15 seconds later as the next jet passes, creating a constant noise cycle. Anything requiring hearing is impossible other than yelling to one’s family.

4) Every three decibel increase doubles sound intensity. So, jet sound at 120 decibels is over 8,000 times as intense as at 80 decibels. Sound intensity is the cause of hearing loss. The EPA and NIOSH agree that sound at the levels folks under the OLF path experience (i.e., 110-120 decibels) causes permanent hearing loss in a matter of seconds, as supported by the World Health Organization. Those claiming no impact, are just uninformed or would rather play make-believe.

6) The jets are dumping fuel all over folks living under the OLF path at way lower altitude than allowed. Jet fuel is highly toxic stuff — benzene and toluene. (Carcinogenic? Quite likely.) Dumping is happening, but it isn’t even mentioned in that noise disclosure notice; after all who would gamble with their health when you could buy a home where you don’t get regularly slimed with jet fuel. Nor, incredibly, does the notice mention the crash risks.

7) Folks can move. Yes, and suffer huge losses, not only going in and out of a home purchase but now especially, because buyers are beginning to learn the full extent of jet impacts on life. How long before areas become de facto ghost neighborhoods with a few stragglers? As one renter told me as she was moving out, “I wouldn’t stay here if the rent was free!”

Let me ask you this: If you knew all of those facts, would you buy a home under the OLF shadow? No?

So now let me ask you this: Assuming the Navy could move it’s touch-and-go practice to a 21st century location that provided what the pilots really deserve to have (which assuredly it can), then why in the world would you want to keep the OLF, a World War II relic, in Coupeville, continuing to plague families and children to documented life-damaging risk (unless, of course, you are one of those who loves jets more than people)?

Robert Wilbur lives in Coupeville.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Opinion

toon
Editorial cartoons for Tuesday, July 8

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

A Volunteers of America Western Washington crisis counselor talks with somebody on the phone Thursday, July 28, 2022, in at the VOA Behavioral Health Crisis Call Center in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Editorial: Dire results will follow end of LGBTQ+ crisis line

The Trump administration will end funding for a 988 line that serves youths in the LGBTQ+ community.

Comment: Students can thrive if we lock up their phones

There’s plenty of research proving the value of phone bans. The biggest hurdle has been parents.

Dowd: A lesson from amicable Founding Foes Adams and Jefferson

A new exhibit on the two founders has advice as we near the nation’s 250th birthday in the age of Trump.

Was Republicans’ BBB just socialism for the ultra-rich?

It seems to this reader that the recently passed spending and tax… Continue reading

GOP priorities are not pro-life, or pro-Christian

The Republican Party has long branded itself as the pro-life, pro-Christian party.… Continue reading

Comment: $100 billion for ICE just asks for waste, fraud, abuse

It will expand its holding facilities, more than double its agents and ensnare immigrants and citizens alike.

toon
Editorial: Using discourse to get to common ground

A Building Bridges panel discussion heard from lawmakers and students on disagreeing agreeably.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on Friday, June 27, 2025. The sweeping measure Senate Republican leaders hope to push through has many unpopular elements that they despise. But they face a political reckoning on taxes and the scorn of the president if they fail to pass it. (Kent Nishimura/The New York Times)
Editorial: GOP should heed all-caps message on tax policy bill

Trading cuts to Medicaid and more for tax cuts for the wealthy may have consequences for Republicans.

Alaina Livingston, a 4th grade teacher at Silver Furs Elementary, receives her Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination clinic for Everett School District teachers and staff at Evergreen Middle School on Saturday, March 6, 2021 in Everett, Wa. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Editorial: RFK Jr., CDC panel pose threat to vaccine access

Pharmacies following newly changed CDC guidelines may restrict access to vaccines for some patients.

toon
Editorial cartoons for Monday, July 7

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

Comment: Supreme Court’s majority is picking its battles

If a constitutional crisis with Trump must happen, the chief justice wants it on his terms.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.