The Navy, citizens and institutions

August opened with the news that a federal judge ruled for Whidbey Island resident Paula Spina and the group Citizens of the Ebey’s Reserve for a Healthy, Safe and Peaceful Environment in their lawsuit against the U.S. Navy. The Navy's 2019 plans to expand the number of Growler jets at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island needs to be redone.

Why did the Navy lose to these people and the state of Washington, also a plaintiff?

The Navy failed to follow the law in its development of an environmental impact statement.

The judge did not say the Navy cooked the books in its report but Magistrate Richard Creatura wrote, “despite a gargantuan administrative record, covering nearly 200,000 pages of studies, reports, comments and the like, the Navy selected methods of evaluating the data that supported its goal of increasing Growler operations. 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. 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.’

Creatura found the Navy assembled its case “at the expense of the public” and turned “a blind eye to data that would not support this intended result.”

The Navy, a huge, old and established public institution created to defend the American people, “failed to provide a rational explanation” as it advanced its own agenda.

The Navy refused to go wherever the facts might take them.

So, three years later the Navy is back at square one, instructed to negotiate with the citizens and the state.

The citizens and member organizations of the Sound Defense Alliance are ready. In an Aug. 12 guest editorial in The Seattle Times, Board President Anne Harvey shared SDA's "Roadmap to a Remedy," writing "We seek to address this issue in a way restores the balance between military needs and civilian communities."

Harvey summarized four critical points for working together, starting with keeping NAS Whidbey open with an emphasis on innovation and environmental protection. SDA is not after closing the Naval Air Station.

The point here is not to champion SDA's program. Rather it is to hold up their reaching toward their adversary. Harvey's ending sentence: "SDA stands ready to assist in striking a balance between military objectives and the interests of the people and places throughout Northwest Washington."

Dialogue and negotiation among neighbors and institutions is what makes a community strong. Through their advocacy, organizing and persistence, Whidbey citizens created success. They documented their lived experiences with the jets knowing the problems they caused.

Citizens dispute governments for a reason or for many good reasons. Better that governments engage their citizens – their constituents – early and with open ears, minds, and hearts than get drawn into court fights against the people they represent.

Communities bond together in collaboration or tear apart in unrelenting, rigid, line-drawn disputes. All sides need to reach toward the other for collaboration to go forward effectively.