James Taylor has weighed in to help in the fight to stop the U.S. Navy from decimating whale populations with sonar testing. 

The National Resources Defense Council, Inc., http://www.nrdc.org/  and other environmental advocacy groups have brought a lawsuit against the U.S. Navy to try to stop these sonic attacks on whales under the National Environmental Policy Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 4321-4347, Endangered Species Act, 16 US.C. §1536, et seq., and California Zone Management Act, 16 U.S.C. §1451 et seq.  

Earlier this year a federal district court issued a temporary injunction against the sonar testing, but a panel of judges on the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed in a 2-1 decision, allowing the testing to continue pending the lawsuit.   

In that opinion Judge Andrew J. Kleinfield, joined by Judge Consuelo M. Callahan, stated, "The Navy uses something called medium frequency active sonar, which basically bounces a loud noise off the hulls of extremely quiet submarines to detect their presence. The loud noise may be quite harmful to whales and other marine mammals."

The judges pointed out that last year "[i]n a previous round of this litigation, the district court had approved a settlement that allowed Navy sonar training to proceed, but required mitigation measures. The measures consisted of such precautions as requiring some sailors to be on deck looking for whales, and reducing the decibel level when whales were present, weather prevented seeing whether any whales were around, or "surface ducting" would let the noise carry more. In this round of the litigation, the Navy proposed to use medium frequency active sonar in training exercises off the coast of Southern California without mitigation measures. The record does not show why the Navy does not propose the mitigation [measures this time.]"

But, said the judges, "[t]he injunction prohibits all use of medium frequency active sonar off the coast of Southern California during the fourteen large training exercises from 2007 to 2009....The District Court did not tailor the injunction in any way" including by requiring the mitigating measures agreed to earlier.

Basically, these judges believed the public interest in national security outweighed the detriment to the whales. They explained, "Medium frequency active sonar has proven to be the most effective method of detecting quiet-running diesel-electric submarines by emitting sound underwater at extreme pressure levels. The 2007 to 2009 exercises at issue were designed to train the full array of land, sea, undersea, and air components of the Pacific Fleet to perform successfully in complex, coordinated combat missions....The public does indeed have a very considerable interest in preserving our natural environment and especially relatively scarce whales. But it also has an interest in national defense. We are currently engaged in war, in two countries. There are no guarantees extending from 2007 to 2009 or at any other time against other countries deciding to engage us, or our determining that it is necessary to engage other countries. The safety of the whales must be weighed, and so must the safety of our warriors. And of our country."

Judge Milan D. Smith dissented, noting there is no national security exception under NEPA which the Navy is alleged to have violated by not completing an environmental impact study.  Judge Smith also pointed out there is no national security exemption from the mandate under the California Zone Management Act to submit its planned testing to the California Coastal Commission for a consistency determination or comply with the Commission's proposed mitigation measures. The judge further pointed out the Navy could make alternative arrangements for testing elsewhere and had presented no evidence of undue  hardship or any reason why it could not continue to operate with the mitigating measures.  

Then in a November 13, 2007 order another panel of judges reinstated the temporary injunction.  This court ordered the District Court judge to amend the temporary injunction to allow testing with but with the mitigating measures.

Now, singer/songwriter James Taylor has issued a request for people to call on the Navy to stop the "sonic assault on whales".   The son of a Navy commander and doctor, Taylor says, "I am so distressed by the acoustic onslaught the Navy is now waging beneath our planet's oceans -- an onslaught that is regularly killing whales with dangerous mid-frequency sound waves. Mid-frequency sonar is designed to detect enemy submarines. The Navy's warships tow underwater speakers that blast the ocean with noise up to 245 decibels -- a sonic barrage roughly comparable to a Saturn V rocket at blast-off. That explosive level of noise can cause whales -- who have an exquisite sense of hearing -- to panic, surface too quickly, and hemorrhage internally. Many beached whales have been found bleeding around their brains and ears after their fatal encounters with sonar systems."

In his appeal for an end to sonar testing, Taylor says, "Imagine a sound so painful that you jump out of the sea and die on the beach rather than be subjected to it for another minute! From a whale's point of view, the Navy's sonic assault almost seems designed to torture them. But that torture isn't just cruel, it's unnecessary."

Instead of sonar testing, Taylor points out, "[T]he Navy could adopt simple safety measures when training with sonar that would prevent the infliction of pain and death on these magnificent animals. For example, the Navy could avoid marine habitats where whales are known to migrate and raise their young. These commonsense precautions would not compromise military readiness."

The message from NRDC and James Taylor is simple: "Whales should not have to die for military practice."

Go to www.nrdcactionfund.org/sonaraction and tell the Navy to stop sonar testing that is torturing and killing whales. Tell the Navy to do the right thing.