Judge tells Navy no sonar
Published 9:00 pm Monday, July 3, 2006
LOS ANGELES – A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order Monday barring the Navy from using a particular sonar allegedly harmful to marine mammals during a Pacific warfare exercise that includes the Everett-based USS Abraham Lincoln.
The order, sought by environmentalists, came three days after the Defense Department granted the Navy a six-month exemption from certain federal laws protecting marine species in its use of mid-frequency active sonar.
The exemption was obtained to circumvent pending litigation, said Joel Reynolds, senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, which was a party in the lawsuit.
Environmental organizations filed suit last week to stop the Navy’s use of the sonar in the Rim of the Pacific 2006 exercise off Hawaii, which began last week. The use of sonar in the war games was set to start Wednesday.
The exemption temporarily relieved the Navy from the requirements of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. But U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper based her order on a different set of environmental laws, the National Environmental Policy Act.
Cooper wrote that the plaintiffs “have shown a possibility that RIMPAC 2006 will kill, injure, and disturb many marine species, including marine mammals, in waters surrounding the Hawaiian Islands.”
The Navy’s failure to prepare an environmental impact statement or otherwise take a “hard look” at the environmental impact of war games was an “arbitrary and capricious” violation of NEPA, Cooper wrote.
The Navy probably will have a response shortly, said Jon Yoshishige, a spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Fleet in Hawaii. Navy scientists have consistently denied that sonar hurts whales.
The sonar use is meant to test whether quiet, diesel-powered submarines such as those used by Iran, North Korea and China can be detected. Some wildlife authorities and advocates believe the sound waves harm whales and other mammals, possibly by damaging their hearing.
On June 27, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration came to an agreement with the Navy permitting the use of the sonar. It was the first time such a permit had been granted to the Navy.
NOAA determined that the exercise would cause no significant environmental effect.
On June 28, the National Resources Defense Council filed suit in Los Angeles, joined by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Cetacean Society International and the Ocean Futures Society.
The judge’s order blocks use of sonar until a July 18 hearing, when Cooper will consider making the order a permanent ban. Cooper gave the two sides until July 12 to meet and discuss a possible settlement.
