The Navy and Environmentalists Settle Lawsuit

The US Navy and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) environmental organization came to a settlement in their lawsuit, which the group, supported by other similar organizations, filed against the military, in an attempt to force the removal of mid-frequency sonar waves from routine naval exercises. About a month ago, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Navy, although all other lower courts ruled in favor of the environmentalists.

 

Under the new agreement, the Navy is forced to conduct more scientific experiments, in order to understand the exact nature of the influence that sonars have on marine wildlife, such as dolphins and whales. The instruments were accused of inflicting massive injuries in these animals, stranding, and even death. The settlement doesn't however bind the Navy to employ additional safety measures than the ones they already have set in place.

 

"The Navy is pleased that after more than three years of extensive litigation, this matter has been brought to an end on favorable terms,” says the Navy's general counsel, Frank R. Jimenez, in a statement. However, the branch of the military is obligated to spend some $14.75 million on marine research that is of interest to both parties.

 

Chief Justice Roberts, of the Supreme Court, said in the decision that deploying an insufficiently-trained anti-submarine fleet against possible attackers could potentially jeopardize the entire US fleet, and that the risk was too great to be taken, especially given the fact that the exact influence of the sonar on whales was unknown.

 

The International Fund for Animal Welfare, the Cetacean Society International, the League for Coastal Protection, the Ocean Futures Society and the Jean-Michel Cousteau Institute were also among the plaintiffs in the current trials, which started in 2005. Before their onset, the Navy had already pledged to look deeper into the effects that its sonars had on the whales, but they are now forced to do so by law.