Little NW impact seen from Sup. Court sonar ruling

The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a blow Wednesday to environmentalists hoping to curtail the Navy's use of sonar off the coast of Southern California to protect whales.

But the decision to allow the continued use of sonar there isn't likely to alter the debate in Washington state, where the Navy and environmentalists have battled over the use of sonar in naval exercises and its impact on marine mammals, including endangered Puget Sound killer whales.

Richard Kendall, co-counsel for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the high court made its decision as narrow as possible, "so it shouldn't have impact on other cases."

In 2003, the Everett-based guided-missile destroyer USS Shoup emitted midfrequency sonar signals off the San Juan Islands and touched off heated debate between the Navy and environmentalists here.

Navy officials said Wednesday they generally don't conduct the same type of exercises in the Northwest as they do in California.

"Some sonar training does occur on a smaller scale in the Northwest," Navy officials said in a statement Wednesday. "But in those cases, the Navy adheres to 29 mitigation measures whenever it uses mid-frequency active sonar to minimize potential harm to marine mammals."

Sheila Murray, spokeswoman for environmental affairs for the Navy Region Northwest, said measures include having trained lookouts to make sure that marine mammals aren't in the area.

Fred Felleman, Northwest consultant for Friends of the Earth, said the measures aren't enough and that the Navy should do more to protect marine mammals in the area.

In the California case, the NRDC and other environmental groups had sued the Navy, winning several restrictions in lower federal courts on sonar use.

But writing for the 5-4 majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said allowing the Navy to conduct training exercises with active sonar outweighed environmental concerns.

The court focused on whether federal courts abused their discretion by ordering the Navy to limit sonar use because it had not completed an environmental impact statement.

Other mitigation measures required of the Navy, including maintaining a 12-mile no-sonar buffer zone along the California coastline, remain in place.

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.