English /// 06/24/08
WASHINGTON -- The US Supreme Court said on
Monday that it would hear a Bush administration appeal of a ruling that
restricted the Navy's use of sonar off the southern California coast because the training
exercises could harm endangered whales and other marine mammals.
The
justices agreed to review a ruling by a US appeals court that upheld a
federal judge's order requiring the Navy to take various precautions during the
sonar training to minimize harm to dozens of species of whales and dolphins.
The
appeals court ruled for environmental groups led by the Natural Resources
Defense Council and rejected White House efforts to exempt the Navy from laws
intended to protect marine mammals off the California coast.
A
federal judge issued a preliminary injunction that barred the Navy's use of
powerful submarine-hunting mid-frequency active radar within 12 miles (19 km)
of the coast, protecting a strip of water that is the habitat for the marine
mammals.
The
injunction imposed other restrictions, including a requirement that the Navy
stop using sonar when marine mammals are spotted within 2,200 yards (2,012
metres) and to reduce sonar decibel levels under certain ocean conditions.
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