Editor,

In an Aug. 8 letter to the editor, Skagit County resident Joe Kunzler attacks an earlier COER letter that quoted internal Navy correspondence speaking to El Centro/San Clemente as better for carrier landing than Outlying Field Coupeville.

Mr Kunzler believes COER invented it.

That presumption would be incorrect.

Mr Kunzler goes on to quote a court declaration of Capt. Illston, commander of the Electronic Attack Wing: “Sending aviators, instructors and maintenance personnel to detachments to other airfields to obtain FCLP [Field Carrier Landing Practice] training disrupts the finely-tuned process of training naval aviators. Travel to and from the detachment is a drain on our budget, as we must pay for travel, lodging and per diem for the detachment personnel.”

Yes, those are costs to consider. There are also important health, livability, and educational impact costs to the community to be considered — a lot of them. Both sets of costs need to be credibly analyzed and compared by an independent contractor, but so far they haven’t been.

At the national level, the allowable day/night noise annoyance level is not being discounted at all.

In fact, it is front and center, and the annoyance threshold is heading down — down from 65 to about 55 decibels, and the medical research continues to pile up, revealing concerning findings.

COER is dedicated to keeping it factual.

Michael Monson, for the COER Board of Directors

Coupeville