Posted on 06/23/2008 11:53:04 AM PDT by jazusamo
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will settle a fight that pits Southern California dolphins against the U.S. military.
In a closely watched case involving national security and the natural environment, the court agreed to review restrictions on the Navy's use of sonar off the California coast. The Bush administration contends that the sonar rules, meant to protect marine mammals, hinder military preparedness.
"The chief of naval operations determined ... that those restrictions unacceptably risk naval training, the timely deployment of (naval) strike groups and national security," Acting Solicitor General Gregory Garre said in a legal filing.
The California Coastal Commission and environmental groups worry about sonar's potentially destructive impact in a 120,000-square-nautical-mile training area that extends from Santa Catalina Island in the north to Mexico's Guadalupe Island in the south. A federal judge agreed and imposed the strict rules that the Bush administration now is challenging.
One rule requires the Navy to shut down its sonar when a marine mammal comes within 2,200 yards of a sonar source. Another requires the Navy to reduce sonar power during certain ocean conditions. The active sonar also is banned within 12 miles off the California coast.
"The imposition of these measures is not likely to prevent effective training," the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded in February, adding that "irreparable harm to marine mammals will almost certainly result should the Navy be permitted to conduct its remaining exercises without appropriate mitigation measures."
The Supreme Court's decision to take up the case, announced Monday, means that at least four justices agreed to review the lower court's decision. That's notably good news for the Bush administration.
(Excerpt) Read more at mcclatchydc.com ...
Why bother to have the Court take this? Just ask Anthony Kennedy what he thinks.
What in the H is going on? Did someone say the liberism is a ‘mental disorder’.
You’ve got a point, hopefully sanity will prevail and the 9th Circus gets overturned again.
Does anyone remember the scene in “Tora Tora Tora,” where the army was prohibited by the green weenies from putting the radar station on top of the mountain where it would have been most effective?
The idea that the safety of animals takes precedence over national security is absolutely absurd.
...how did this POS case ever get to the Supreme Court?....the Justices ought to side with the Navy and savagely attack the greenie lawyers for wasting the Court’s time.
The dolphins have more rights in that court than the unborn.
It’s going to SCOTUS because of the brain dead 9th Circuit.
Hopefully, the 9th Circus will continue to be the most overturned court in the land.
The Audobon Socierty had a strong advocate in Mrs. Roosevelt. On an equally serious side, Chinese Boomers would do well to install Whale Sound emittimg devices in towed arrays to mask cavitation and screw noise.
>> hopefully sanity will prevail and the 9th Circus gets overturned again.
It’s highly probable. There’s no reason SCOTUS would grant cert just to uphold the ruling.
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