[CPEO-MEF] Navy sonar exemption

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Navy can use controversial sonar
The service is exempt from a law protecting whales and dolphins

By Audrey McAvoy
Associated Press
Honolulu Star Bulletin (HI)
January 24, 2007

The Defense Department yesterday exempted the Navy from complying with 
the Marine Mammal Protection Act for the next two years so sailors may 
practice tracking submarines with sonar.

Environmentalists swiftly denounced the move, saying the Navy wasn't 
doing enough to protect whales, dolphins and other marine mammals from 
the harmful effects of the underwater sound technology.

Navy officials said they need the exemption, allowed for under the 2004 
National Defense Authorization Act, to give them enough time to conduct 
environmental impact reviews for sonar use at major underwater training 
ranges.

The studies required by the Marine Mammal Protection Act will take about 
two years to complete, Navy officials said.

The ranges are located off Hawaii, Southern California and the East Coast.

...

For the entire article, see
http://starbulletin.com/2007/01/24/news/story03.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
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org


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