The United States Supreme Court agreed yesterday to the Bush administration's request that it review a dispute between environmentalists and the Navy about whether training exercises off the Southern California coast endanger whales, dolphins and other marine mammals.
At the same time, it turned down a petition from environmentalists and members of Congress that it stop the administration from waiving environmental and other laws in building a portion of a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border to discourage illegal immigration.
The case involving Navy exercises off San Diego has required lower courts to balance the need for military preparedness with environmental laws that protect threatened marine mammals. So far, environmentalists have won.
A federal district judge has said the Navy cannot use sonar within 12 miles of the coast and has restricted its use when marine mammals are within a certain distance of the ship. Environmentalists say the sound waves have harmed and resulted in the deaths of whales in other parts of the world, pointing to a Navy estimate that the exercises could result in 175,000 incidents of injury, disturbance or death to marine mammals.
The Navy said using the mid-frequency sonar is critical to training the military to detect quiet-running electric-diesel submarines.
Read the full story here from the Washington Post
Resources:
Supreme Court of the United States
U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit
Chief of Naval Operations, Submarine Warfare Division
The Sub Report - daily news blog for sub news and events
National Geographic article on Sonar vs Whales
Vancouver Aquarium story on sonar and whale interaction
0 comments:
Post a Comment