Stop the sonar, groups ask feds
Navy exercises hurt marine mammals, environmentalists say
Environmentalists filed a court motion to stop the Navy from using high-powered sonar in an exercise this November, saying that it could hurt marine mammals.
The group hopes to stop the Navy's use of sonar until a lawsuit to prohibit high-power sonar in Hawaii is settled, said Earthjustice attorney Paul Achitoff. In May, Earthjustice filed a lawsuit against the Navy on behalf of five environmental groups, including the Ocean Mammal Institute and Animal Welfare Institute.
In court documents filed Wednesday in federal court in Honolulu, Earthjustice said intense sonar sounds can rupture marine mammals' hearing organs and result in strandings or death. At least 27 marine mammals live in waters around the Hawaiian islands, including four species of endangered whales, such as the sperm and humpback.
"What we're concerned about is the harm, not whether or not they get to do an exercise," Achitoff said.
Earlier this year, the Navy proposed 12 undersea warfare exercise over two years, Achitoff said. At least one has been held this year, he added.
In a written response, the Navy said the anti-submarine warfare exercises are critical to a sailor's training for protection and are the last exercises that sailors have before moving on to the Western Pacific or the Arabian Gulf.
Achitoff claims the Navy violated four federal environmental laws in planning its sonar use and that it needs an environmental impact statement, which the Navy says it has. The lawsuit also names as a defendant the National Marine Fisheries Service, which gives the Navy permission to use sonar.
"The Navy strongly opposes this manner of addressing issues that have been coordinated thoroughly with the regulatory experts vested with protecting our nation's marine resources," the statement said. "Earthjustice has certainly never been vested with this important responsibility."
A hearing on the motion is scheduled for Oct. 15 and a ruling could come within two weeks, according to Achitoff.
