The shutdown of the federal government is delaying the completion of a revision to the Navy’s environmental study on the impacts related to an increased number of EA-18G Growler aircraft stationed at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.

On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Jones stayed the deadline for the Amended Analysis of the Environmental Impact Statement until Congress resumes appropriations to the Department of Justice. Once the shutdown is lifted, “all current deadlines for the parties will be extended commensurate with the duration of the lapse in appropriations,” according to the minute order.

The Navy is redoing sections of an Environmental Impact Statement, or EIS, which was required under the National Environmental Policy Act to gauge the impacts of the jet noise and other issues. After the original EIS was finalized, Navy brass chose an option that increased the number of Growlers at NAS Whidbey by 36 and resulted in a four-fold increase in touch-and-go training at OLF Coupeville.

In response, the state Attorney General’s Office and the Coupeville anti-noise group, Citizens of Ebey’s Reserve, or COER, filed lawsuits in 2021 claiming that the environmental study was inadequate and ignored some evidence. The judge agreed that the EIS failed to quantify the impact of Growler noise on classroom learning; failed to disclose the basis for greenhouse gas emissions calculations; failed to take a hard look at species-specific impacts on birds; and failed to give detailed consideration of the idea of moving Growlers to El Centro, California.

The amended report was due in September but the Navy asked for an extension until Nov. 10. The plaintiffs did not oppose the request.

On Nov. 7, the Department of Justice attorneys representing the Navy filed a motion asking for a stay of the deadline. The motion states that the funding for the Department of Justice and other executive agencies ended on Sept. 30 and that the attorneys are prohibited from working except in very limited circumstances.

“Although we greatly regret any disruption caused to the Court and the other litigants,” the motion states, “the United States hereby moves for a stay of Defendants’ status report deadline and deadline to complete the remand analysis until Department of Justice attorneys are permitted to resume their usual civil litigation functions.”

Again, the state Attorney General’s Office and COER did not oppose the stay, although COER wasn’t in favor of an open-ended deadline and preferred it to be set as 28 days after the conclusion of the shutdown.

“If the Navy later on finds it needs more time beyond the 28 days, it should be up to the Navy at that time to convince the court that additional time is justified,” said Paul Spina, a member of COER.