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Green Party
wants sonar-test
case reopened

The Navy says no tests are
planned for here, but the party,
seeking to protect whales,
insists otherwise

By Lori Tighe
Star-Bulletin

The fight to protect Hawaii's endangered humpback whales against Navy sonar testing resurfaces once again in court tomorrow.

"It's been a real sea change after the Bahamas -- that really changed things," said Lanny Sinkin, an attorney representing the Hawaii County Green Party, fighting the fight.

He refers to the March stranding of 17 whales and the death of nine whales during the time the Navy tested various sonar devices in the Bahamas.

Since then the Navy canceled its sonar tests off New Jersey in May, due to intense pressure from scientists and environmentalists following the Bahamas incident.

Although the Navy denied its tests caused the whales to die, Ken Balcomb, director of the Center for Whale Research, said evidence emerged showing the whales died of shock.

Blood in the eyes, blood in the brains and damage to lungs all point to some explosive or high-intensity source, he said.

When Sinkin heard that the Navy may do further sonar testing in Hawaii, he filed to reopen the 1998 case that tried to stop the Navy's sonar testing. The court dismissed the case, declaring it moot because the Navy had wrapped up its testing in Hawaii.

Sinkin insists the case is not moot, and fears the Navy will deploy its sonar devices in the future.

He wants the case reopened, so Judge Alan C. Kay will examine the Hawaii County Green Party's evidence of whales leaving the area during the Navy's testing off the Big Island.

But the Navy wants the case to remain closed, since it has no plans to test in Hawaii.

"We've got an EIS (environmental impact statement) under way. There will be no testing until that is complete," said Lt. Cmdr. Rod Gibbons, Navy spokesman in Hawaii.

He repeated, "There will be no LFA (low-frequency active sonar) testing."

Sinkin wants to make sure of it.

"We saw an email," Sinkin said, that suggested more Navy sonar testing was planned for Hawaii.

An email dated in March from Dr. Robert Gisiner in the Office of Naval Research indicated the Navy planned additional research in the EIS for the deployment of its low-frequency active sonar device to detect silent submarines. The testing would be done in the Azores, Dominica and/or Hawaii, Sinkin said.

Since then Gisiner filed a declaration in court stating the Navy has no plans at this time to test its low-frequency active sonar before it finishes the EIS.

Gisiner specifically stated, "Any inference from my email message that the Navy was considering using SURTASS LFA as part of this proposed research is wrong."

The research was never funded, and the Navy had no plans to do it this year, Gisiner said.

"It's hedged and ambiguous, like it all could happen tomorrow," Sinkin said.

The Navy's and Gisiner's statements to the court were filed after Sinkin filed his suit, which Sinkin infers changed the Navy's mind to test in Hawaii.

"The argument is that what counts is what the Navy intended to do, not what they decided to do after I filed the motion," Sinkin said.

"If they can prevent reopening by changing their mind after getting caught, then the process becomes a cat-and-mouse game of whether we happen to catch them or not."

The hearing is at 9 a.m. before Judge Alan C. Kay in Federal District Court in Honolulu.