Everett, Wash.
Published: Tuesday, June 24, 2008

U.S. Supreme Court to rule on Navy's use of sonar

The justices agree to review rulings that limited sonar use because of risks to marine mammals.

By Bill Sheets
Herald Writer

 The question of how much the U.S. Navy should be restricted in using sonar around marine mammals will now go to the highest court in the land.

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to the Bush administration's request to review recent court rulings that limit the Navy's use of the technology.

The Navy says sonar is critical to national security. Environmental groups point to evidence that Navy sonar has killed whales, dolphins and porpoises, which use their own type of sonar to communicate.

An injunction by a federal judge in Los Angeles early this year created a 12-nautical-mile no-sonar zone along the coast and ordered the Navy to shut off all sonar use within 1.25 miles of a marine mammal.

The Bush administration then asked for an exemption while it appealed the case. In February, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld the lower court ruling but relaxed the restrictions to begin the sonar shutdown within 1,000 meters, or a little more than half a mile, of a marine mammal. Sonar must be completely shut down if the animal is within about an eighth of a mile.

Those are the restrictions under which the Navy is currently operating.

The Supreme Court is expected to hear the case in October.

The Navy already has 29 safeguards in place and is spending $18 million per year on research on the health of marine mammals, said Sheila Murray, environmental public affairs officer for the U.S. Navy in Bangor.

"The Navy needs to train in environments equal to those they could be called to fight in," Murray said. "We need to train the way we fight."

Five environmental groups, led by the Natural Resources Defense Council, are suing the Navy over sonar. They don't believe the Navy does everything it can to prevent harm to marine animals.

"I think proper mitigation requires dedicating areas and training during times when marine mammals are not as abundant or not in the area," said Ken Balcomb, a marine biologist with the Center for Whale Research, based in Friday Harbor. "That can be done with adequate monitoring."

The Everett-based destroyer USS Shoup found itself in hot water over the issue five years ago. Environmentalists said the Shoup's sonar caused a mass stranding of marine mammals in Haro Strait, between Vancouver Island and San Juan Island, in May 2003. A subsequent study by the Navy found no relationship between the ship's sonar and the deaths.

The Navy admitted, however, that its sonar caused the death of 17 marine mammals in the Bahamas in 2000. The Navy has determined that its sonar is responsible for five strandings and 37 deaths of marine mammals since 1996, Murray said.

Many of the animals that died in 200 were beaked whales, located in a deep ocean valley, where environmentalists say the mammals are especially vulnerable to echoes from the sonar.

"That echo chamber just amplifies the vibrations," said Howard Garrett, director of the Orca Network, based on Whidbey Island.

"Those intense soundwaves reverberate in any air pocket, which includes the ear canals and the lungs, and that causes abrasions and bleeding. Literally, it's ear-piercing," Garrett said.

This causes the animals to panic and rise to the surface too fast, and they get the bends, he said.

Balcomb believes the ruling has caused the Navy to cut back on its training exercises in the Puget Sound area, especially around where marine mammals congregate.

Not so, said the Navy's Murray. She said the Navy's precautions have been in place for several years. These include using passive sonar to listen for the animals, extensive training for personnel in spotting marine mammals, use of night thermal imaging equipment, and "safety zones" around which the sonar is shut off.

"We're good stewards; we take pride in that," she said.

Still, it's important that the Navy be able to track silent diesel electric submarines, of which about 300 are employed by 41 countries, she said.

Murray pointed out an incident two years ago in which a Chinese sub surfaced within torpedo range of the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier near the Japanese island of Okinawa. Beijing claimed the sub was in international waters and was not stalking the carrier, which was taking part in a naval exercise.

"This is one of the reasons why we need to use active sonar," Murray said.

The environmental groups say there's a difference between training and a legitimate threat.

"In times of war, they'll always have the ability to say, 'This is an emergency,' " Balcomb said. "That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about routine practices. They can carefully avoid this, and they choose not to."

Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA