LOS ANGELES - A federal judge ordered the US Navy to stop using a specific kind of sonar since it may harm the wildlife under the sea. The California federal judge said the Navy could not use the sonar during a Pacific combat exercise slated to begin this week.
Environmentalist groups were able to convince Judge Florence-Marie Cooper to grant a temporary restricting order, who said there was considerable evidence to prove that the sonar was harmful to whales, porpoises and other marine creatures and could even kill them. Joel Reynolds, a Natural Resources Defense Council lawyer, who argued for a ban said whales and other creatures should not die for practice. "The Navy can accomplish its national security mission in a manner that's consistent with environmental protection," he said. "It simply makes no sense for the Navy not to incorporate the full range of practical, common-sense measures available to it to reduce the harm to whales, porpoises and other marine creatures."
The Navy had obtained a six-month exemption to test the midfrequency sonar near the northwest Hawaiian Islands. It may be recalled here that President Bush had proposed making this area the largest marine sanctuary in the world. In denying the Navy this exemption, Judge Cooper write 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".
In 2004, the RIMPAC exercise was interrupted when large pod of melon-headed whales intruded into the test area. The huge publicity surrounding the case served to block the exercise, but one young whale died. Local officials then directed the whales back to the sea.
Navy spokesman Lt. John Gay said that the Navy was preparing a statement in response to the ruling.
