[CPEO-MEF] BIOTA: Puget Sound underwateer explosions

[Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>]

Navy agrees to curtail underwater explosions

By ROBERT MCCLURE
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA)
November 20, 2008

Under pressure from a lawsuit by environmentalists, the Navy has agreed 
to greatly restrict the size and number of underwater explosions it sets 
off during training exercises in Puget Sound -- explosions that for 
years routinely killed thousands of fish at a time.

It took seven years, but the Navy finally worked out agreements with the 
Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service. All 
three agencies had been sued by Public Employees for Environmental 
Responsibility, a national group, and the Duvall-based Wild Fish 
Conservancy.

"Suddenly, after dancing around the mulberry bush for years and years, 
faced with a lawsuit, they agreed to something that looks halfway 
reasonable," said Jeff Ruch, executive director of PEER.

Navy divers use C4 explosives to blow up dummy mines, training to be 
able to clear shipping lanes or other waters. Navy spokeswoman Sheila 
Murray said the green groups' lawsuit did cause the reductions in the 
training exercises.

...

For the entire article, see
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/388794_sound21.html

--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
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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