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Judge Stands by Ban on Sonar    [

Waiver issued to bolster court case over California waters.

    Washington - President Bush exempted the Navy from an environmental law so it can continue using sonar in its anti-submarine warfare training off the California coast, which critics say is harmful to whales and other marine mammals.

    The exemption by itself won't allow the Navy to go forward with the training, but it could strengthen the military's argument in court, Navy officials said. They have asked a court to decide by Friday.

    The White House announced Wednesday that Bush had signed the exemption Tuesday while traveling in the Middle East. The Navy training exercises, including the use of sonar, "are in the paramount interest of the United States" and its national security, Bush said in a memorandum.

    "This exemption will enable the Navy to train effectively and to certify carrier and expeditionary strike groups for deployment in support of worldwide operational and combat activities, which are essential to national security," Bush said.

    A federal judge in Los Angeles had issued a preliminary injunction earlier this month requiring the Navy to create a 12-nautical-mile, no-sonar zone along the Southern California coast and to post trained lookouts to watch for marine mammals before and during exercises.

    Bush has no authority to overturn a court injunction, officials said. With the exemption in hand, they are hoping a three-judge panel in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco will vacate the injunction.

    The president's decision drew immediate criticism from environmentalists who had fought to stop the Navy's sonar training.

    "The president's action is an attack on the rule of law," said Joel Reynolds, director of the Marine Mammal Protection Project at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "By exempting the Navy from basic safeguards under both federal and state law, the president is flouting the will of Congress, the decision of the California Coastal Commission and a ruling by the federal court."

    NRDC spokesman Daniel Hinerfeld said the group would be filing papers with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later Wednesday or Thursday to challenge the exemption.

    Waiver Specific to State Law

    A federal judge early this month found that using mid-frequency active sonar violated the Coastal Zone Management Act. It was a section of that act for which Bush issued the waiver or exemption.

    Complying with the environmental law would "undermine the Navy's ability to conduct realistic training exercises that are necessary to ensure the combat effectiveness of carrier and expeditionary strike groups," Bush said.

    The Natural Resources Defense Council had sued to force the Navy to lessen the harm of its sonar exercises. In November, a federal appeals court said the sonar problem needed to be fixed.

    Scientists say loud sonar can damage marine mammal brains and ears. Sonar may also mask the echoes some whales and dolphins listen for when they use their own natural sonar to locate food.

    Much is still unknown about how sonar affects whales and other marine mammals. For example, the sound can hurt some species while not affecting others, and experts don't fully understand why.

    The Navy has continually argued that the exercises are vital for training and that it works to minimize the risk to marine life.

    A statement from the Defense Department said the exemption covers the use of mid-frequency active sonar in a series of exercises scheduled to take place off the coast of California through January 2009 and that the Navy already applies 29 measures to mitigate the effects.

    In a separate development, Navy Secretary Donald Winter signed a memo Tuesday agreeing to greater public participation and better reporting on the issue while officials complete an environmental impact study for Southern California.

    Military's Rationale

    Use of sonar "is part of critical, integrated training that must be done in the Navy's operating area off the coast of San Diego to take advantage" of features there related to water depth as well as extensive ranges, airfields and other infrastructure needed for training, a Pentagon statement said.

    About half the Navy's fleet will receive "its most critical, graduate level training" there before it deploys its forces around the world, it said.

    Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead said that exercises with sonar train sailors to detect quiet submarines that might threaten its ships.

    "We cannot in good conscience send American men and women into potential trouble spots without adequate training to defend themselves," said Roughead.

    "The Southern California operating area provides unique training opportunities that are vital to preparing our forces, and the planned exercises cannot be postponed without impacting national security," he said in the Pentagon statement.

 

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    Go to Original

    Judge Stands By Ban on Sonar
    By Kenneth R. Weiss
    Los Angeles Times

    Tuesday 15 January 2008

The Navy is expected to appeal the decision, meant to protect marine mammals, affecting upcoming training exercises.

    A federal judge in Los Angeles declined Monday to set aside her order forbidding the Navy from using powerful sonar in training missions in Southern California waters unless it operates farther than 12 miles off the coast and adopts other measures to lessen the effect on whales and dolphins.

    The Navy is expected to appeal Judge Florence Marie Cooper's decision and ask that her injunction temporarily be removed to allow training exercises to begin later this month without the restrictions.

    The recent confrontation between Navy ships and fast-moving Iranian boats in the Persian Gulf illustrates precisely why this case gives the Navy "heartburn," said Cmdr. Jeff A. Davis, a Navy spokesman at the Pentagon.

    The judge's order, he said, restricts sonar training in the Santa Catalina basin, a "choke point" whose similarity to the Strait of Hormuz can help sailors learn to detect submarines while defending against "swarming attacks by small boats."

    The Navy's integrated approach to training is designed to ensure that sailors are prepared to respond simultaneously to all potential threats, Davis said.

    "While we respect the court's decision and appreciate the care it took in crafting it, we cannot in good conscience send American sons and daughters into potential trouble spots without adequate training to defend themselves," Davis said. "This is a national security issue, and we must use all methods available to ensure that overly broad restrictions do not hamper our ability to train."

    In her rulings, Cooper has said she tried to balance national security needs with environmental protections - specifically those to prevent unnecessary harm to whales and dolphins from mid-frequency active sonar. That's the type the Navy uses to detect quiet diesel-electric submarines.

    She has cited scientific studies linking U.S. and NATO warships' use of sonar to the deaths and injuries of beaked whales and other marine mammals. She also has reiterated the Navy's own predictions that the upcoming exercises off Southern California "will cause widespread harm to nearly 30 species of marine mammals."

    She has closed some whale-rich waters to training exercises and insisted that the Navy increase its efforts to watch for whales and shut down the sonar if marine mammals come within 2,200 yards. Her ruling affects training runs off Southern California only.