Posted by Pono Kealoha on March 19, 2008 at 6:31pm
RE: Public Protests Navy EIS on Sonar Training
Mahalo: Nini'ane
Public Protests New Supplement to Navy EIS on Sonar TrainingSasha J. Schorr, Maui Weekly, 20 March 2008Protesters voiced disapproval of U.S. Navy sonar training and its effects on marine mammals. “The U.S. Navy has conducted extensive analysis on whales and has found… factors which may result in whales harming themselves.”Although research has identified sonar as a contributing factor to whales beaching themselves, the U.S. Navy continues to impart the necessity of mid-frequency sonar testing in Hawai‘i’s waters in the event of a threat to security. As required by law, the U.S. Navy must inform the public of their actions and did so at a public hearing on Friday, March 14, on a supplement to a previous draft of a Hawai‘i Range Complex Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for proposed naval training in Hawai‘i.Tom Craven, an environmental protection specialist from the U.S. Army said three parts were added as a supplement to the original draft. In addition, he said modifications were made on the analytical methodology used to evaluate the effects of mid-frequency active sonar on marine mammals, changes were made to the amount and types of sonar allocated to each of the alternatives, and a new alternative for sonar testing was established.The original EIS was presented to the public on Aug. 27, 2007, at Baldwin High School where the public voiced its concern for the effects of sonar testing on marine mammals and the environment.Public discontent prompted Earthjustice, on behalf of Ocean Mammal Institute, Animal Welfare Institute, KAHEA, Center for Biological Diversity, and Surfrider Foundation’s Kaua‘i Chapter, to sue the U.S. Navy last May. In the case, Hawai‘i Federal District Judge David A. Ezra found that the Navy was violating federal laws including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA).Ezra said that the Navy is likely to cause harm if allowed to proceed without greater protections. He said the Navy’s harm threshold—173 decibels (dB)—contradicted the best available science.Ezra issued a preliminary injunction and concluded that the U.S. Navy may only carry out its undersea warfare exercises in Hawai‘i’s waters while adhering to additional mitigation measures to protect marine mammals.“The judge gave a balanced decision and was concerned about whales,” said Dr. Marsha Green, professor at Albright College and founder of International Ocean Noise Coalition. “It was a step in the right direction.”According to Navy Capt. Dean Leech from the Fleet Environmental Council, “The Navy is still in preliminary steps and hasn’t yet litigated the merits of the court case.”“The U.S. Navy has conducted extensive analysis on whales and has found that there is a confluence of contributing factors which may result in whales harming themselves through stranding themselves,” said Leech.With this research on the harmful effects that war training has on marine mammals, residents wonder why the U.S. Navy still continues to conduct sonar testing. “The Navy themselves acknowledge that sonar is identified as a contributing factor but is ignoring the problem,” said Barbara Kranichfeld from Ha‘iku.“If the Navy was truly doing all they could to protect the whales, they would not appeal the [court] decision,” said Cedar Poirier, who traveled from Newport, Rhode Island, to testify for the protection of whales.“Unfortunately, this February 2008 version of the draft EIS in the exhausting 116 pages is an inadequate analysis by the Navy, as was the prior 2005 draft,” testified Mike Moran, vice-president of Kihei Community Association. “The Navy insists on using selective science to form assumptions that neither do, nor apply in the real world marine environment, and chooses to ignore scientific evidences of injury and death to marine mammals, which occur in regions where active sonar use occurs. Further, the Navy refuses to make available after action reports to the public, thus hiding specifically where sonar use occurs.”While the public continues to protest war training, the U.S. Navy continues to carry out sonar testing exercises, with mitigation factors in Hawaiian waters.
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