Weapons testing prompts concern

BRINNON — A Navy proposal to expand weapons testing in Hood Canal and off the Washington coast has everyone from business owners to whale researchers concerned.

The Keyport Naval Undersea Warfare Center already operates three ranges in the area: one focused on torpedo testing in Hood Canal’s Dabob Bay, a second focused on submarine research and underwater mapping off the coast of the Quinault Indian Reservation; and a third next to the warfare center itself.

The Navy’s preliminary proposal calls for the 89-square-mile testing area to expand to 2,672 square miles, the bulk of it in Quinault waters.

The Navy has offered few specifics on what its plans.

"Obviously, such a big project does raise concerns," Quinault Nation President Pearl Capoeman-Baller said. "I can’t just take this lightly and say, ‘I support what you’re doing, and we all have a great awareness of why you need to do this.’ We have to protect all of our treaty resources. For us, that’s the most important thing."

Marine researchers across the country have sounded alarms recently about the danger undersea instruments might pose to marine life.

A team of international researchers recently published a study theorizing that when animals get frightened by the piercing sound of sonar, they surface too quickly, causing nitrogen in the blood to transform into gas rapidly, which can block blood vessels and cause bleeding in vital organs.

The study was based primarily on necroscopies of beaked whales that washed up dead in the Canary Islands after naval exercises there in 2002. Researchers found evidence of hemorrhaging inside the animals, much like when scuba divers get decompression sickness, a condition commonly known as "the bends."

Kenneth Balcomb, senior scientist at the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor, said he worries about both the size of the Navy’s proposed expansion and the lack of detail about what it would entail.

"It’s a national marine sanctuary, and they want to convert it to a complete naval operations area," Balcomb said. "I haven’t heard them say anything about the impact on marine mammals; they just haven’t mentioned it at all."

The Navy has set a Dec. 5 deadline for public comment on factors it should consider as it prepares an environmental impact statement.

So far, the loudest complaints have come from business owners in and around Dabob Bay. Brooks Hanford, president of the Quilcene-Brinnon Chamber of Commerce, said torpedo testing can delay pleasure boaters for up to an hour, and more of it might scare away a major portion of the region’s economy.

"We’ve lost our logging because of the spotted owl," Hanford said. "Boating is all we have left, and anything that limits access to this area is just one more terrible stroke against us."

Diane Jennings, a spokeswoman for the Navy base at Keyport, acknowledged that there has been friction between Dabob Bay boaters and the Navy, but she said Hanford’s fears are unfounded.

"What they might notice is more of a Navy presence farther south in the canal, where we’d be testing unmanned undersea vehicles," she said. "It isn’t that submarines would be going down the canal, but people might see smaller Navy craft. It would be akin to looking out the window and seeing another type of boat on the canal."

The undersea warfare center tests torpedoes by simulating the presence of submarines and measuring the speed and accuracy of its weapons. No explosives are used. The warfare center also tests unmanned undersea vehicles used to collect information about the sea floor.

In Dabob Bay, the torpedo tests take place about 50 days a year and almost always on weekdays, Jennings said.

"We’ve delayed people — there’s no question about that — but we don’t close waterways," she said. "All we would restrict is the area of our operations, and there are always ways around our operations."