COAST Joins Lawsuit Opposing Navy Sonar Range: Alaska Action Network

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COAST Joins Lawsuit Opposing Navy Sonar Range

Posted on Feb 04, 2010 by Citizens Opposing Active Sonar Threats (COAST)

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Message*	The Navy intends to build a 500-square nautical mile instrumented Undersea Warfare Training Range (USWTR) off the Florida and Georgia coasts, where it plans to conduct around 470 annual exercises involving up to three vessels and two aircraft, and the use of its mid-frequency active sonar. Despite the fact that MFA sonar disrupts, injures, and kills marine life, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the federal agency responsible for ensuring protection for marine species, has given the Navy the go-ahead to begin construction of this sonar range. However, there are very serious problems with the Navy plans, and the process undertaken by the Navy and NMFS to implement them has been unlawful. And so on January 28th, the Southern Environmental Law Center, Defenders of Wildlife, Earthjustice, Natural Resources Defense Council, The Humane Society of the United States, Citizens Opposing Active Sonar Threats, and six other groups, filed a lawsuit in federal court to challenge those plans. First among these problems is the Navy’s choice of location for the range, which could hardly have been worse, as the site lies just offshore of the only known calving grounds and federally designated critical habitat for one of the world’s most endangered whales, the North Atlantic right whale. With only 300-400 of them remaining on the planet, NMFS has stated that "the loss of even a single individual may contribute to the extinction of the species." Their calving grounds are vitally important to the population, and to quote NMFS, are "a very high-risk area for pregnant females, new mothers, and calves." High-intensity sonar and other noise from the range are not the only reasons that the USWTR will jeopardize the right whale’s continued existence. Ship strikes are the leading cause of death in this species, and the potential for injuries and deaths resulting from ship strike is dramatically increased by the Navy’s choice of locations for the range. NMFS, in its Biological Opinion for the range, concluded that "ship strikes seem almost inevitable." Navy vessels will transit between the range and Naval Station Mayport in Florida and Naval Submarine Base King’s Bay in Georgia, directly through the calving grounds. Though there are now speed restrictions in place limiting non-federal vessels over 65 feet off the southeastern U.S. coast to speeds of no more than 10 knots between November 15 and April 15 when more right whales are likely to be present, the Navy has refused any speed limits on its vessels, despite its own record of striking and killing right whales. Entanglement is the next leading cause of death for right whales, and the range will also magnify that threat. In addition to the large quantities of toxic materials that will be expended annually on the range, other expended items such as torpedo guidance wires and parachute assemblies will greatly increase the potential for right whales and other marine life to become entangled. Right whales, while at extreme risk, are not the only species that are sometimes present in the area and whose survival may be jeopardized by the range. Other threatened and endangered species, including manatees, five whale and five sea turtle species will also be at risk. Non-endangered marine mammals, fish, and Essential Fish Habitats will be impacted as well. Because of the Navy and NMFS failure to adequately study the environmental impacts of building and operating the USWTR, and because of a failure to engage in proper procedures, in moving ahead with plans to begin installation of the $100 million range, very clear violations of the Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Policy Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act have occurred. In its 2008 decision regarding Navy sonar exercises off the coast of California, the Supreme Court sided with the Navy despite its violations of the law, ruling that national security needs trump environmental concerns. However, in its Final Environmental Impact Statement for the USWTR, the Navy itself states clearly that even if no range were installed, either in its preferred location or anywhere else, it would not prevent the Navy from maintaining antisubmarine warfare readiness for its sailors. Given that, any claim that the range is necessary for national security doesn’t hold water. And as the Navy and NMFS violations of the law are so blatant, maybe, just maybe, the court will decide in favor of the plaintiffs, and the whales, and turtles, and fish, and all of us. -- Russell Wray
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The Navy intends to build a 500-square nautical mile instrumented Undersea Warfare Training Range (USWTR) off the Florida and Georgia coasts, where it plans to conduct around 470 annual exercises involving up to three vessels and two aircraft, and the use of its mid-frequency active sonar. Despite the fact that MFA sonar disrupts, injures, and kills marine life, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the federal agency responsible for ensuring protection for marine species, has given the Navy the go-ahead to begin construction of this sonar range.

However, there are very serious problems with the Navy plans, and the process undertaken by the Navy and NMFS to implement them has been unlawful. And so on January 28th, the Southern Environmental Law Center, Defenders of Wildlife, Earthjustice, Natural Resources Defense Council, The Humane Society of the United States, Citizens Opposing Active Sonar Threats, and six other groups, filed a lawsuit in federal court to challenge those plans.

First among these problems is the Navy’s choice of location for the range, which could hardly have been worse, as the site lies just offshore of the only known calving grounds and federally designated critical habitat for one of the world’s most endangered whales, the North Atlantic right whale. With only 300-400 of them remaining on the planet, NMFS has stated that "the loss of even a single individual may contribute to the extinction of the species." Their calving grounds are vitally important to the population, and to quote NMFS, are "a very high-risk area for pregnant females, new mothers, and calves."

High-intensity sonar and other noise from the range are not the only reasons that the USWTR will jeopardize the right whale’s continued existence. Ship strikes are the leading cause of death in this species, and the potential for injuries and deaths resulting from ship strike is dramatically increased by the Navy’s choice of locations for the range. NMFS, in its Biological Opinion for the range, concluded that "ship strikes seem almost inevitable." Navy vessels will transit between the range and Naval Station Mayport in Florida and Naval Submarine Base King’s Bay in Georgia, directly through the calving grounds. Though there are now speed restrictions in place limiting non-federal vessels over 65 feet off the southeastern U.S. coast to speeds of no more than 10 knots between November 15 and April 15 when more right whales are likely to be present, the Navy has refused any speed limits on its vessels, despite its own record of striking and killing right whales.

Entanglement is the next leading cause of death for right whales, and the range will also magnify that threat. In addition to the large quantities of toxic materials that will be expended annually on the range, other expended items such as torpedo guidance wires and parachute assemblies will greatly increase the potential for right whales and other marine life to become entangled.

Right whales, while at extreme risk, are not the only species that are sometimes present in the area and whose survival may be jeopardized by the range. Other threatened and endangered species, including manatees, five whale and five sea turtle species will also be at risk. Non-endangered marine mammals, fish, and Essential Fish Habitats will be impacted as well.

Because of the Navy and NMFS failure to adequately study the environmental impacts of building and operating the USWTR, and because of a failure to engage in proper procedures, in moving ahead with plans to begin installation of the $100 million range, very clear violations of the Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Policy Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act have occurred.

In its 2008 decision regarding Navy sonar exercises off the coast of California, the Supreme Court sided with the Navy despite its violations of the law, ruling that national security needs trump environmental concerns. However, in its Final Environmental Impact Statement for the USWTR, the Navy itself states clearly that even if no range were installed, either in its preferred location or anywhere else, it would not prevent the Navy from maintaining antisubmarine warfare readiness for its sailors. Given that, any claim that the range is necessary for national security doesn’t hold water. And as the Navy and NMFS violations of the law are so blatant, maybe, just maybe, the court will decide in favor of the plaintiffs, and the whales, and turtles, and fish, and all of us.

-- Russell Wray