A federal court has just handed down its decision in our
case against the U.S. Navy and I wanted you to be the first to hear the
great news. In a resounding victory for whales and other marine mammals,
the court ruled that it will bar the Navy from deploying its
high-intensity LFA sonar system across most of the world's oceans.
The LFA (Low Frequency Active) sonar system would have
blasted hundreds of thousands of square miles of ocean habitat with
noise so intense it can maim, deafen and even kill whales. In her
historic ruling, Judge LaPorte agreed with NRDC that the sonar's booming
noise could "irreparably harm" the marine environment and threaten the
very survival of endangered populations of whales, sea turtles and other
marine species.
Judge LaPorte has ordered the Navy to begin negotiations
with NRDC on a plan for safely testing the sonar system in a limited
area.
This is truly a banner day for the Earth's environment.
The court has granted a life-saving reprieve to dozens of species of
magnificent marine mammals. But its ruling also sends a message loud and
clear to the White House that it is not above our nation's environmental
laws. The Bush administration trampled all over those laws when it gave
the Navy a blank check to operate the deadly LFA sonar system virtually
anywhere in the world.
It's also a banner day for hundreds of thousands of NRDC
members and activists like you. When we began this fight eight years
ago, we were told that our chances of stopping the military's classified
LFA program were slim to none. But that conventional wisdom seriously
underestimated the collective power of a determined citizenry.
Your financial contributions and online activism fueled
an NRDC legal strategy that prevailed, in the end, over the world's most
powerful military establishment. There is no finer example of democracy
in action.
The fight to protect our oceans against high-intensity
sonar is not over. The Navy could appeal the court's ruling. And right
now the Bush administration is trying to get exemptions for the Navy
from some of the very environmental laws NRDC used to block deployment
of the LFA system. With your help, NRDC will do everything it can to
ensure that these efforts do not succeed.
But all that lies ahead. For today, at least, we've won
a significant victory, one worth savoring and celebrating. On behalf of
our entire legal team, I want to thank you for coming to the defense of
marine mammals around the world.
Sincerely,
John H. Adams
President
Natural Resources Defense Council
BioGems: Saving Endangered Wild Places
A project of the Natural Resources Defense Council
http://www.savebiogems.org
NRDC Press Release:
http://www.nrdc.org/media/pressreleases/030826.asp
Washington Post story:
http://www.nrdc.org/news/newsDetails.asp?nID=1075
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