Free Republic

SAN FRANCISCO (>AP) -- Environmental groups filed suit Wednesday to stop the Navy from using a powerful new sonar system for detecting enemy submarines, saying the intense underwater sounds can harm whales and dolphins. The coalition, led by the Natural Resources Defense Council, sued the Navy and the National Marine Fisheries Service in U.S. District Court in San Francisco to block the Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System Low Frequency Active sonar. In July, the fisheries service gave the Navy a five-year exemption from the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which protects whales and dolphins. ``Despite the public and scientific outcry, the...

Chances are, at this very moment, a family is arriving at some U.S. shoreline ready to spend a week relaxing at the beach. But before mom, dad and the kids can get their feet warm in the sand, a sign confronts them: "Beach closed. No swimming allowed." As the children slouch back to the car, a parent tries to console them. "At least the hotel has a swimming pool, and there's always next year." And so it goes. Similar routines are played out for real thousands of times each year in this country. And the culprits — those who...