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 t the request of the Bush Administration, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether the U.S. Navy should be allowed to sidestep key environmental laws during ongoing exercises with deadly mid-frequency sonar off the Southern California coast. Earlier this year, a federal district judge and a federal appeals court both sided with NRDC, ruling unanimously that the Navy must put environmental safeguards in place and affirming that no government agency is above the law. "The American public would never permit the military to train in a heavily populated urban center or national park," said Joel Reynolds, director of NRDC's Marine Mammal Protection Project. "Unleashing a barrage of lethal sonar in vital marine mammal habitat is no different."
The Navy itself has estimated that the sonar drills -- due to continue through the end of this year -- would disturb or injure 170,000 marine mammals and cause permanent injury to more than 450 whales, as well as temporary hearing impairment in at least 8,000 others. In February, the appeals court rejected an unprecedented effort by the White House to exempt the U.S. Navy from major environmental laws during the exercises. The three-judge panel upheld a lower court order -- won by NRDC in January -- that requires the Navy to put meaningful safety measures in place to protect marine life during its maneuvers, including a ban on sonar use within 12 miles of the California coast and in other important whale habitat. "The Navy is capable of minimizing harm to whales and other marine mammals without compromising military readiness," said Reynolds. "We'll do everything in our power to prevail in this historic case." The Supreme Court is expected to rule this fall.
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“The American public would never permit the military to train in a heavily populated urban center or national park. Unleashing a barrage of lethal sonar in vital marine mammal habitat is no different.”
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