Fwd: [graffis-l]BUSH SIDES WITH NAVY ON SONAR, WHALES AND DOLPHINS LOOSE

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>

>At 11:11 AM 1/17/08, you wrote:

>>Bush sides with Navy in sonar battle

>>Posted by: " Mark Graffis " mgraffis mgraffis

>>Thu Jan 17, 2008 7:10 am (PST)

>>Bush sides with Navy in sonar battle

>>

>>By Kenneth R. Weiss, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer, Wednesday, January

>>16, 2008, 11:51 p.m., PST

>>

>>Declaring them " essential to national security, " President Bush exempted

>>the Navy's upcoming training missions in Southern California waters from

>>environmental laws that prompted court-ordered restrictions on using

>>sonar linked to injuries of whales and dolphins.

>>

>>The administrative maneuvers by the White House, released today while

>>Bush was traveling in the Middle East, are designed to override a

>>federal court order that restricts the Navy from using mid-frequency

>>active sonar within 12 miles of the coast and shutting down the powerful

>>submarine-detection device when marine mammals come within 2,200 yards.

>>

>> " This exemption will enable the Navy to train effectively and to certify

>>carrier and expeditionary strike groups for deployment in support of

>>worldwide operational and combat activities, which are essential to

>>national security, " according to the memo signed by Bush.

>>

>>Citing the memo and other documents, a Justice Department lawyer asked

>>that the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeal repeal the restrictions set

>>out in an injunction issued this month by U.S. District Judge

>>Florence-Marie Cooper.

>>

>>Her injunction compromises the Navy's ability to evaluate and certify

>>the Pacific Fleet's strike groups as properly prepared to hunt for quiet

>>diesel electric submarines in active military operations off the coast

>>of Asia and in waters near Iraq and Afghanistan, the Justice Department

>>lawyer, Allen M. Brabender, wrote.

>>

>> " It therefore profoundly interferes with the Navy's global management of

>>U.S. strategic forces, its ability to conduct warfare operations, and

>>ultimately places the lives of American sailors and Marines at risk, "

>>Brabender wrote in an appeal.

>>

>> " Each day that the injunction remains in force the Navy and national

>>security suffer grievous harm, " he wrote, asking that the three-judge

>>appeals court panel lift the injunction by 2 p.m. Friday.

>>

>>The administrative actions and court filings set up a classic struggle

>>between the administrative and judicial branches of government, in a

>>widely watched case that pits environmental protections against troop

>>readiness and national security.

>>

>>Peter Douglas, executive director of the California Coastal Commission,

>>said the president had clear authority to exempt the Navy's exercises

>>from the U.S. Coastal Zone Management Act. His action effectively knocks

>>the commission out of the ongoing legal case, which also involves a

>>consortium of conservation groups.

>>

>>Although Douglas found it " troubling, " he said the commission has no way

>>to fight Bush's action -- the first presidential override of the law

>>that since 1972 has given states the right to review federal activities

>>that affect their coastal resources.

>>

>>But it's less clear if the White House Council on Environmental Quality

>>has the authority to override the requirements in another federal law --

>>the linchpin of the federal case. Conservation groups persuaded Cooper

>>to issue her injunction based on the National Environmental Policy Act.

>>

>> " We will vigorously oppose the president's illegal waiver of federal

>>law, " said Joel Reynolds, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources

>>Defense Council. " This is definitely an attempted end run around the

>>National Environmental Policy Act, the grandfather of our environmental

>>laws. "

>>

>>When asked if the White House has such authority, Reynolds responded,

>> " This is unprecedented, so it is never clear. "

>>The Pentagon tried to short-circuit the same lawsuit last year by

>>exempting the Navy's training exercises from the Marine Mammal

>>Protection Act.

>>

>>But the lawsuit went forward under the two other laws, leading to

>>Cooper's injunction, which set out the toughest restrictions ever

>>imposed on use of sonar during training missions.

>>

>>The Navy has conducted five of 14 planned evaluation and certification

>>missions for strike groups in the Southern California Operating Area, a

>>massive range that stretches from the Channel Islands into Baja

>>California and far out to sea.

>>

>>The Navy asserts that it has 29 separate measures to protect marine

>>mammals from harmful effects of mid-frequency active sonar, which has

>>been linked to panicked behavior of marine mammals in more than a dozen

>>places and mass strandings of dead and dying whales and dolphins in the

>>Bahamas and Canary Islands.

>>

>>But Cooper, who in her rulings said she

>>tried to balance environmental protections with national security, found

>>that these protections were insufficient. Citing the Navy's own studies,

>>she concluded that upcoming exercises off Southern California " will

>>cause widespread harm to nearly 30 species of marine mammals, including

>>five species of endangered whales and may cause permanent injury and

>>death. "

>>

>>The powerful sonar is used to detect quiet diesel-electric submarines

>>that are operated by about 40 countries, including some hostile ones.

>>The device sends out bursts of sound, which bounce back, essentially

>>lighting up submarines or other underwater structures in a sonic

>>equivalent of a strobe light.

>>---------

>>ken.weiss

>>

>>© Copyright 2008 Los Angeles Times / Click at bottom to join the L. A.

>>Times discussion group on this timely topic.

>>---------

>>L. A. TIMES DISCUSSION GROUP: Share your thoughts on this report.

>>

>>1) Can't believe how many people SUPPORT hurting and possibly killing

>>whales off the California coast. This President has been wrong, wrong,

>>wrong about almost every decision he's made, but on this we're supposed

>>to trust him?

>>

>>Wake up! China is not going to start WW3 with us, we owe them too much

>>money! The technology that they're talking about is not essential to

>>defending this country (according to people far more educated about this

>>issue than I). This is another example of the arrogance that un-checked

>>power leads too. Time to go George.

>>

>>2) He won't be happy until he's killed every living thing on this

>>planet. Next January can't come soon enough.

>>

>>3) The sooner Californians secede from the union ... the better!

>>

>>http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-sonar17jan17,1,2954015.s\

tory?coll=la-news-environment

>>

 

******

Kraig and Shirley Carroll ... in the woods of SE Kentucky

http://www.thehavens.com/

thehavens

606-376-3363

 

 

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