Fw: Rare whales in danger off North Carolina. Take Action Now.

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=====================================================================Join James Taylor in saving the last right whales from a deadlysonar assault Click here to stop the Navy's plans to unleash lethal sonar offNorth Carolina's coast:http://www.nrdconline.org/ct/-dM0uy71_ulc/Read James Taylor's personal history below to learn why he feelsso strongly about protecting whales...=====================================================================Dear Jillian,I find it hard to believe. The U.S. Navy wants to put a training range for lethalmid-frequency sonar next to a key migratory route for endangeredright whales -- off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. That's why I'm writing to you now. Click here to tell the Navynot to put its proposed sonar range next to the right whale'smigratory route: http://www.nrdconline.org/ct/-dM0uy71_ulc/I grew up in North Carolina. My father served in the Navy whilewe lived there, and I have sailed up and down the Easternseaboard many times. Like so many people, I love the wild beautyof the North Carolina coast, including its magnificent whales. So I find it mind-boggling that our government would choose thissensitive environment as the training ground for a type of sonarthat can kill whales. The Navy's new Atlantic Undersea Warfare Training Range wouldcreate a 500-square-mile hub of sonar activity -- assaultingwhales, dolphins and other marine life with a year-round barrageof deafening sound. That barrage would occur without apparent interruption -- evenduring the peak, annual migration of the North Atlantic rightwhale, one of the most endangered whale species on Earth. Only about 300 of these whales are believed to exist. Given what we know about the dangers of sonar, can we staysilent while our military bombards the world's last right whaleswith this deadly noise? Join me in speaking out to protect the world's last right whalesfrom deadly sonar. http://www.nrdconline.org/ct/-dM0uy71_ulc/The Navy itself has admitted that sonar can kill whales. Aroundthe world -- from Hawaii to the Canary Islands -- whales havebeen found stranded or dying following their encounters withnaval sonar. And scientists have demonstrated that intense noiseputs right whales in additional danger of being struck andkilled by ships. Strandings have even happened in North Carolina! Thirty sevenwhales of three different species beached themselves on theshores of the Outer Banks following sonar exercises in 2005. Yetthe Navy is planning to build its new testing range just southof where the mass stranding occurred. If you and I wait for more pictures of dying whales on thebeaches of North Carolina it will be too late. No one is asking the Navy to compromise its training or itsreadiness. Certainly, I'm not. I'm from a naval family. I fullyappreciate the Navy's vital mission. But we are asking the Navy to find a place and a time fortraining that is less likely to torture and kill some of themost magnificent creatures on Earth. Taking that simpleprecaution is the sensible and moral thing to do. Right whales should not have to die for military practice.Please join me and the NRDC Action Fund in demanding that theNavy consider less sensitive locations for its new sonartraining range and the deadly noise it will produce. Tell the Navy to do the right thing by clicking here:http://www.nrdconline.org/ct/-dM0uy71_ulc/I hope you'll also help us build nationwide opposition to theNavy's proposal by forwarding this message to anyone you knowwho cares about whales. Let's not wait for whales to start dying in North Carolina.Please speak out now. Sincerely,James TaylorNRDC Action Fund . . .If you would prefer not to receive action alerts and updates,you can click here to remove yourself from this list (or you canreply to this email with the word "remove" in the subject line.)http://www.nrdconline.org/actionfund/remove-domain-direct.tcl?ctx=subscription & nkey=idei5edr2mb5bik & To update your email or mailing address, or to view all yoursubscriptions, http://www.nrdconline.org/actionfund/smp.tcl?nkey=idei5edr2mb5bik & The NRDC Action Fund is the 501©(4) affiliate of the NaturalResources Defense Council (NRDC).