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Bush Says Judge's Ruling on Sonar Doesn't Apply to Navy

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Bianca
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« on: January 16, 2008, 03:55:29 pm »








                           Bush Says Judge's Ruling on Sonar Doesn't Apply to Navy





President Rules Sonar Key to National Security


By PAULINE JELINEK
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON Jan. 16, 2008
   
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 - a practice critics say is harmful to whales and other marine mammals.

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," the memo said.

The 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."

Daniel Hinerfeld, a spokesman for the council, said the group would be filing papers with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later Wednesday or Thursday to challenge Bush's exemption.

A federal judge had issued a preliminary injunction earlier this month requiring the Navy to create a 12-nautical-mile, no-sonar zone along the California coast and to post trained lookouts to watch for marine mammals before and during exercises. Sonar would have to be shut down when mammals are spotted within 2,200 yards, under the order.

The court found that using mid-frequency active sonar violated the Coastal Zone Management Act and Bush exempted the Navy from a section of that act.

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.

Critics contend sonar has harmful effects on whales, possibly by damaging their hearing, and other marine mammals worldwide. The council's lawsuit alleges the Navy's sonar causes whales and other mammals to beach themselves.

In an argument that has been going on for years, the Navy has continually argued that the exercises are vital for training and that it works to minimizes the risk to marine life.
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Bianca
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« Reply #1 on: January 16, 2008, 04:09:08 pm »






A case in 2000, when four different species of whales stranded on beaches in the Bahamas after a US Navy battle group used active sonar in the area:

Investigators found that the whales were bleeding internally around their brains and ears. The US Navy was stopped from testing a powerful sonar system in most of the world's oceans after a federal judge ruled that it could "irreparably harm" whales, dolphins and fish.

Campaigners say military active sonar works like a floodlight, emitting sound waves that sweep across the ocean, revealing objects in their path, but requiring the use of extremely loud sound. High-intensity sonar, which some military vessels use, can disrupt the navigation system of whales and dolphins.
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Bianca
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« Reply #2 on: January 16, 2008, 04:13:07 pm »






The bible thumpers out there think that all animals are there to serve man.

Man has only been on this earth for a few hundred thousand years.

Animals have been here for billions of years.

Unless, of course, one is talking about those Xians that think that evolution, carbon dating and
science are not reliable (LOL)....then all creatures have only been around for 5 thousand years.....
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