US Navy wins a round in whale sonar case

Aug 31, 2007, 23:22 GMT

San Francisco - The US Navy was given a court go-ahead Friday to continue using sonar technology that scientists have linked to mass die-offs of whales.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco lifted an injunction imposed by a lower court, which ruled earlier this month that the powerful bursts of sonar used to detect submarines could 'cause irreparable harm to the environment.'

The 9th Circuit US Court of Appeals ruled that US District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper did not give adequate consideration to the public's interest 'in having a trained and effective Navy.'

'The safety of our whales must be weighed, and so must the safety of our warriors. And of our country,' wrote Circuit Judge Andrew Kleinfeld.

Dissenting judge, Milan D Smith, wrote that the Navy did not make a compelling case for how national security would be jeopardized and that the lawsuit filed against the Navy by the Natural Resources Defense Council to stop the Navy's unmitigated use of the sonar is likely to win.

'Unlike my colleagues in the majority, I am satisfied that the district court carefully weighed national security and public interest considerations before issuing the preliminary injunction in this case,' he wrote.

A further hearing is to be scheduled in the near future for the court to hear more detailed arguments.

'This is a short-term stay to allow the court to review the merits in full,' said Joel Reynolds, senior attorney at the NRDC. 'The court will hear the matter on a highly expedited basis, and we look forward to that review.'