By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 4, 2006; A05
Navy plans to hold a major sonar training maneuver off Hawaii this week endanger marine mammals and were designed without proper attention to environmental risks, a federal judge ruled yesterday, temporarily blocking the exercise.
In response to a lawsuit filed by several environmental groups, U.S. District Court Judge Florence-Marie Cooper concluded that the Navy was not doing enough to protect whales, dolphins and other marine mammals from sonar-related injuries, and that officials had not fully considered alternatives to the Hawaii sonar training. She blocked the use of high-intensity sonar for 10 days while the legal issues are addressed.
The environmental groups "have submitted considerable scientific evidence demonstrating that the Navy's use of [mid-frequency sonar] can kill, injure, and disturb many marine species, including marine mammals," she wrote.
A Navy spokesman said yesterday that a statement was being prepared, but it had not been completed.
The temporary restraining order was issued three days before the sonar component of the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) war games was scheduled to begin. It was also only three days since the Defense Department issued its first-ever environmental exemption to the Navy -- a new authority provided by Congress that allows the department to waive mandates of the Marine Mammal Protection Act when it and the Commerce Department determine they pose a risk to military preparedness.
In her ruling, however, Cooper found that the Navy had not complied with the National Environmental Policy Act, a law that does not allow for exemptions.
"This ruling underscores that no one, not even the United States military, is above the law," said Joel Reynolds, a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, the lead plaintiff. "Last Friday the Navy did an end run around the law protecting marine mammals, but fortunately this country has more than one law against the needless infliction of harm to endangered whales and the environment. We sincerely hope the Navy will now choose to comply."
The temporary restraining order is the latest development in the increasingly contentious battle between the Navy and environmental groups over the safety of its mid-frequency, high-intensity sonar. The equipment sends out loud underwater blasts that can detect enemy "quiet" submarines -- which the Navy says are a growing threat -- but also has been tied to the deaths of whales in numerous strandings.
The 2004 RIMPAC exercise was interrupted when a large pod of melon-headed whales showed up unexpectedly in Hanalei Bay of Kauai Island, and federal environmental officials have concluded the sonar may well have caused them to dash toward land. Local officials led the whales back to sea, and only one young whale died in that incident. But the publicity surrounding it helped rally environmentalists and convince policymakers that sonar can endanger and sometimes kill marine mammals.
The RIMPAC exercise is becoming a major test case for Navy sonar. Because of the growing scientific evidence that active sonar can harm marine mammals, the Navy for the first time applied to the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service for a permit to conduct the sonar training. The service required additional steps to protect marine mammals, but in the end issued its permit to "disturb" marine mammals early last week.
The environmental groups sued the next day, and the Defense Department issued its environmental waiver Friday.
RIMPAC is a biennial maneuver and one of the Navy's largest war games. It will include 35 warships, six submarines, 160 aircraft and 19,000 servicemen and women this year.
The lawsuit against the sonar component of the maneuvers was filed by NRDC, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, the Cetacean Society International, Ocean Futures Society and Jean-Michel Cousteau.