As a retired Navy pilot and active citizen of the Keys, I have a personal interest in making it possible for the Navy to continue to train at NAS Key West in perpetuity through implementation of a proper AICUZ report. To that end, I encourage the Navy to comply with the law and - while accomplishing their essential training mission - to minimize their impact on the local community. I also encourage the County to strictly enforce development restrictions of properly defined noise and accident potential zones. I believe this is the only way to save the long-standing and proud U.S. Navy/Florida Keys relationship.

To commemorate the recent naturalization of a friend, I recently read the Declaration of Independence for the first time in perhaps 40 years. One of the most inspiring passages reads ". . . to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the Governed. . ."

It makes me very angry when this principle is turned on its head and our rights are */obstructed/* by government!

Such is the case with the recently announced AICUZ "Workshop" to be held on December 5 at the Harvey Government Center in Key West. The public notice states that *government officials ". . . may attend to discuss these issues".*

The government officials invited include the Department of the Navy; the Department of Defense and/or other U.S. Military organizations; the Monroe County BOCC, Planning Commission and Growth Management staff and other County staff; the Tourist Development Council and Advisory Councils; the Key West City Commission; and even the Workforce Housing Task Force!

Just in case, those invited to speak include "appointed representatives" of those government agencies.

. . . but not the public . . . the taxpayers . . . your constituents!!!!!! The notice states that *the meeting format ". . . will not accommodate speakers from the general public."*

For months now, the public has asked for an honest public hearing on this issue. First, we got an orchestrated propaganda "awareness" workshop held at a hotel so there is no record of the proceedings. Now we're presented with what should properly be called a "government" hearing - where members of the public are excluded from participation.

This is outrageous, insulting and unacceptable.

The reason that the AICUZ issue has become a contentious issue is simple - the Navy has replaced the F-14 Tomcat with the much louder F/A-18E/F Super Hornet without adequately assessing the impacts. According to Navy documents, the Super Hornet can be 18 decibels louder than the Tomcat. A ten decibel increase is twice as loud. Eighteen decibels is nearly four time louder. Amazingly, the Navy claims that there is "No Significant Impact" from that much louder airplane. But folks in the vicinity of the Naval Air Station who - in good faith - purchased homes outside of the published noise zones now find themselves effectively INSIDE those zones because noise from the substantially louder Super Hornet has encroached upon their homes. The totality of the Navy's evaluation of that impact is a curiously isolated three-page section buried in the 232-page "Environmental Assessment for Fleet Support and Infrastructure Improvements" - the bulk of which details the impacts of dredging and other ship and aircraft facility projects. The Super Hornet is not mentioned in the Table of Contents, nor is it mentioned in the Chapter 1 "Proposed Actions", nor the Chapter 2 "Alternatives" nor the "Finding of No Significant Impact" that they claim satisfies the legal requirement to assess the impact of the airplane. A pending inquiry will determine if this claim is supported by the Secretary of the Navy.

When the Super Hornet was introduced to the East Coast of the U.S., the Navy produced a 1,078-page Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that described in detail the impact of that very different airplane on all of the other affected airfields on the East Coast - but not NAS Key West. They argue that the aircraft at NAS Key West are "transient" as if that reduced the noise.

What does it matter to a screaming child where the offending airplane parks? Does an airplane based at NAS Oceana make less noise than one based at NAS Key West? Furthermore, the number of "transient" flights at NAS Key West exceeds the number of "transient" flights at other airfields that were fully evaluated in the EIS.

The Navy has a vital national defense mission that has been fully supported by the community for decades, but that does not exempt them from compliance with our nation's laws. A Department of Defense Inspector General and Government Accountability Office inquiry will determine if laws were broken.

I strongly recommend that the you (Monroe County Board of County Commissioners) honor your constituents' legitimate request by scheduling a true public hearing in the very near future and prior to any decision on the matter. Sadly, it is necessary to state that such a public hearing must be held at a government facility and that an official record be made of the proceedings. Furthermore, the records of that meeting must be made available to the public.

Sincerely,

John Hammerstrom