Monday, February 04, 2008

Judge Rules Against Navy’s Use of SONAR

I’m sure that the Russians and the Chinese are thrilled with this ruling.

The Navy must follow environmental laws placing strict limits on sonar training that opponents argue harms whales, despite President Bush’s decision to exempt it, a federal judge ruled Monday.

The Navy is not “exempted from compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act” and a court injunction creating a 12 nautical-mile no-sonar zone off Southern California, U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper wrote in a 36-page decision

Now it’s all that much easier for them to park a submarine packed full of nuclear missiles off the coast of L.A.

(8) Comments
Posted by Owen at 2106 hrs
Law + Military

  1. The judge is a Clinton appointee born in Vancouver, British Columbia…....

    This just points out how important the Presidency is to shape the federal judciary…..

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 04, 2008 at 2239 hrs


  2. We could pass some legislation that the military (or the president, your choice) can simply ignore laws that seem inconvenient or that they don’t like. Would that be better?

    Posted by Leisureguy on February 04, 2008 at 2314 hrs


  3. The military already operates under it’s own law code.  That’s why they can do things like kill people and ignore ADA requirements for an F-16.

    Posted by Owen on February 04, 2008 at 2316 hrs


  4. I don’t know why the military has not abandonded Kalifornia already!  The liberal bastards do everything they can to hamper military training and operations—not to mention harrass soldiers on the streets.  We should close all military installations in Kalifornia.  If someone attacked us there, it would be no loss.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 05, 2008 at 0026 hrs


  5. I’m no Navy expert, but I don’t follow your thought reasoning at all here Owen.  This comes up as one big non sequitur to me. 

    The article is saying that active sonar at loud levels can lead to brain damage on organisms living in the vicinity…

    Scientists have said that loud sonar can damage the brains and ears of marine mammals, and that it may mask the echoes some whales and dolphins listen for when they use their own natural sonar to locate food.

    When is active sonar used to track Chinese and Russian Subs?  Ummmm, Never.  Oh, and it’s only “creating a 12 nautical-mile no-sonar zone off Southern California” .

    Sorry, but, there’s no reason any submarine packed with Nukes needs to get that close. 

    Oh, and I disagree with our President’s statement here too…

    Bush said complying with the law would “undermine the Navy’s ability to conduct realistic training exercises that are necessary to ensure the combat effectiveness of carrier and expeditionary strike groups.

    Sounds like he’s bending over for some admiral who likes the weather in SoCal.  Make them to exercises 20 miles out, then they can ping actively with their sonar turned up to 11 for all the world cares.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 05, 2008 at 0028 hrs


  6. The past years have been about the world going green. Now, even the army. It is just about right. It’s about time we take care of the earth that we have been taking for granted all these years.

    Posted by Tim on February 05, 2008 at 0942 hrs


  7. “It’s about time we take care of the earth that we have been taking for granted all these years.”

    Good grief.  The earth is perfectly capable of taking care of itself without a bunch of environmentalist kooks helping it.

    The whole “Green” movement is a new, sick religion.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 05, 2008 at 1001 hrs


  8. This is an excellent ruling.  It simply states that the President cannot simply exempt himself from laws he doesn’t like.  We don’t elect a King, we elect a President.  The correct action to take here is for the Legislature to debate on, and then vote to exempt the military from these laws, if we decide that its important.

    Posted by Nick on February 05, 2008 at 1104 hrs


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