[CPEO-MEF] Sonar lawsuit in Washington State

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Groups sue to end Navy's use of sonar

San Juan incident cited as evidence of harm to sea life

By ROBERT MCCLURE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
October 20, 2005

The U.S. Navy is flouting federal law by conducting sonar training 
exercises like the 2003 incident in the San Juan Islands that spooked 
orcas and may have killed porpoises, environmentalists charged in a 
lawsuit filed Wednesday.

The Natural Resources Defense Council and other groups said they have 
been trying for years to get the Navy to talk about ways to decrease 
harm to marine mammals and other sea life, but the service has refused 
to deal with the issue head-on.

"The U.S. Navy regularly uses for routine testing and training a 
technique that we know for a fact causes whales to die, and their use of 
this technique has been done in the past and will be done in the future 
without complying with the United States' bedrock environmental laws," 
said Andrew Wetzler, an attorney for the plaintiffs.

"All we are seeking is for the Navy to prepare a mitigation plan and 
commit to following U.S. environmental law."

...

For the entire article, see
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/245243_orcas20.html

--
Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org


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