Court rules for Navy in whale sonar case

[unhappycamper]

This image provided by the Cascadia Research Collective shows a beaked whale and her calf off the Kona coast of Hawaii, Dec. 8, 2006. These whales have been at the center of the dispute over the Navy's use of sonar.


Court rules for Navy in whale sonar case
By Pete Yost - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Nov 12, 2008 21:29:07 EST

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that military training trumps protecting whales in a dispute over the Navy’s use of sonar in submarine-hunting exercises off the coast of southern California.

Writing for the majority in the court’s first decision of the term, Chief Justice John Roberts said the most serious possible injury to environmental groups would be harm to an unknown number of the marine mammals the groups study.

“In contrast, forcing the Navy to deploy an inadequately trained anti-submarine force jeopardizes the safety of the fleet,” the chief justice wrote. He said the overall public interest tips strongly in favor of the Navy.

The Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmental organizations had sued the Navy, winning restrictions in lower federal courts on sonar use.

Dolphins, whales and sea lions are among the 37 species of marine mammals in the area.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/11/ap_navysonar_111208/%2e

[xochi]

1. This just sucks beyond belief

but what's a few expendable humpback whales when you're hunting down Al Qaeda's submarines? Oh, you say that Bin Laden's NOT just off the coast of Maui, and he doesn't have submarines? Well, never mind--at least we can seriously fuck up a few humpback mamas and their newborn babies.... They're probably all socialist, intellectual whales anyhow. And besides, the Patriot Act (and the nine supreme idiots) give us the RIGHT to expand our war of terrorism even to these extraordinarily intelligent creatures of the sea....