Navy Sonar Ban in Southern Calif. Upheld

By ROBERT JABLON, Associated Press Writer, Space & Earth science / Environment

This image made available by the U.S. Navy shows the the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Shoup, right, guiding the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln during a straits transit exercise, Jan. 26, 2008 off the Southern California coast. The Navy must abide by limits on its sonar training off the Southern California coast because the exercises could harm dozens of species of whales and dolphins, a federal appeals court ruled Friday Feb. 29, 2008. The lawsuit cites a May 2003 case in which orcas behaved erratically and porpoises were found dead in northern Puget Sound following exercises by the USS Shoup. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy, IS1 Wayne Hamrick)

(AP) -- The Navy must abide by limits on its sonar training off the Southern California because the exercises could harm dozens of species of whales and dolphins, a federal appeals court ruled.

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Posted by superhuman 03/02/08 11:10

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I doubt US will be engaged in any naval battles in the coming century.

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Posted by alpha262 03/02/08 12:09

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The number of nations with submarines increases each year. Many of those nations are not allies, and some are very likely adversaries. At the least, the chance of an Iranian sea-launched anti-ship attack on a U.S. carrier group is very real. ASW training is essential to preventing the loss of ships (and incidentally hundreds of human beings) to such an attack. I hardly think that nations armed against the United States will show such sensitivity to marine life when training for anti-surface warfare.

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Posted by zevkirsh 03/02/08 12:22

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this country has become so unbelievably militarized that a 'victory' like this is the most putrid form of ironic symbolism. we can fight the military with a decrepit legal system to 'save the whales' but we cant' actually use our political power to restrain the military industrial complex to 'save the people' .

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Posted by alpha262 03/02/08 12:32

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You may have a point that we are unbelievable militarized, but only if you compare present levels of militarization to those of, say, early 19th Century America. The notion that 21st America is 'unbelievably militarized' denotes a vast ignorance. Do try comparing our level of militarization to the that of the Cold War or the second World War. Your statement is emotional, not intellectual.