The Honorable Bill Nelson

United States Senate

716 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20510-0903

Re: NAS Key West

Dear Senator Nelson,

Our community has reviewed the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and miscellaneous altered documents recently released by NAS Key West. We firmly believe that NAS Key West has failed to comply with any NEPA, Department of Defense or Navy regulations regarding the environment, citizen’s health and overall quality of life. NAS Key West has significantly impacted the health of its neighbors since the introduction of new flight paths and aircraft, particularly the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and the F-22 Raptor. Some residents experience over 120 flights over their roof tops everyday with internal noise readings in excess of 120 dBls. This area of homes has never been in any approved AICUZ zone.

Furthermore, the latest shifting of AICUZ flight paths to remove certain individuals and their proposed high end real estate developments from particular flight zones (long within the established and adopted 1977 AICUZ), has caused detrimental consequences to long established poorer communities that had always been outside 1977 AICUZ boundaries. Those citizens that carefully and thoughtfully bought outside the published

AICUZ noise zones are now bearing the brunt of NAS Key West flight activities.

The procedural change of the AICUZ from the affluent area to a flight path over the poorer area and compounded by the alleged influence peddling involving the past commander of NAS Key West is at best an example of Social Bigotry orchestrated by NAS Key West administrators. Recently, the past commander of NAS Key West was awarded a $185K job by the City of Key West administration controlled by the involved developer.

During our review, we have determined that the Navy has failed to produce any past or current EIS documents that reflect the use of modern procedures presently used in calculating flight paths, environmental impact, aircraft noise or citizen’s heath concerns. Introduction of what is acknowledged to be a much noisie aircraft to the Key West Naval Air Station without any evaluation of its environmental impact violates the National Environmental Protection Act and present DOD military policies.

Failure to evaluate NAS Key West in the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Introduction of the F/A-18E/F to the East Coast of the United States (FEIS) is apparent and well documented. Since the FEIS did not address the introduction of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet to NAS Key West and since there is no other such evaluation that addresses the environmental impact of this very different aircraft to the Key West environment, we believe that NAS Key West has failed to fulfill any NEPA legal obligations.

It is clear to us that the obsolete modeling used for the 2007 AICUZ to measure the actual noise levels of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet (described by researchers, including the NASKW AICUZ consultants – Wyle Laboratories, as exhibiting "non-linear noise propagation") grossly understates the actual noise from non-linear- noise propagating aircraft, like the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. We also question the representation of the least noisy jets being represented as the majority of FCLPs in the recent 2007 AICUZ study.

Therefore, it is requested that aircraft training at NAS Key West cease until a FULL Environmental Impact Study for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and the F-22 Raptor has been completed. We request the use of Wyle Labs' "non-linear noise propagation" criterion and that the issues of Citizen Heath and Environmental Impact must be addressed per SECNAVINST 5090.6 ASN (I&E) 26 July 1991. Compatibility requires the honest measurement and prediction of actual noise levels.

The debilitating effects from NAS Key West’s failure to address citizen’s concerns are indefensible and illegal. The community now fears for their children’s health and a diminished quality of life. NAS Key West’s inability to recognize such impacts through proper NEPA and DOD studies supports our conclusion that AICUZ boundaries were changed to satisfy a developer’s concerns over a poorer communities health and well-being. They want and deserve relief.

We are also appalled by NAS Key West’s tactic of labeling concerned citizens as “traitors” in regard to questioning the Navy’s decision to alter military documents, justifying the debilitating noise as "the sound of freedom" and reverse engineering their own research to accommodate their deportment.

We, as citizens of the United States, request your immediate attention to this matter.

I await your response.

Paul S. Caruso

cc: BRAC via email