It's the controversy that keeps on controversing: The U.S. Navy wants to test underwater mid-frequency sonar. Marine advocates say such testing effs up whales and other marine mammals. Repeat. (Grist has been writing about this issue since 1999, and we have never reused a headline. Thank you.) Anyhoodle, here we go again: last month, a federal judge ordered the Navy to stop using mid-frequency sonar off the California coast through 2009; on Friday, a federal appeals court put the kibosh on that decision. "The public does indeed have a very considerable interest in preserving our natural environment and especially relatively scarce whales," wrote Judge Andrew Kleinfeld. "But it also has an interest in national defense. We are currently engaged in war, in two countries." And we can't be too careful -- what if the whales are working for the terrorists?
source: Reuters, The New York Times
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pianoyoga Posted 7:09 am
05 Sep 2007
I lose respect for the moral integrity of the Navy on this matter. To my way of looking at it, the great whales have been noble masters of the oceans for millions of years; the Navy showed up some time in the 1800-somethings (basically, yesterday). Why should our tax dollars support such disrespectful, stupid behavior?
Ideally, I want the Department of Defense to defend the oceans. Do something to regulate fisheries, develop environmental best practices.
How about it, Navy? How much money and manpower is invested in greening the Navy? Does anyone in power even listen to your own marine biologists?
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