Free Republic

<p>A federal judge knocked down Tuesday a Navy plan to deploy submarine-hunting sonar in most of the world's oceans, saying the devices endanger entire populations of whales, porpoises and fish.</p> <p>Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Laporte of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco said a permanent injunction should be issued that will bar the Navy from using sonar in areas including 14 million square miles, or about 40 percent, of the Pacific Ocean.</p>

A federal judge in San Francisco on Tuesday prohibited the Navy from testing a powerful sonar system in most parts of the world's oceans, ruling that the booming sounds to detect enemy submarines could "irreparably harm" whales, dolphins and fish. U.S. District Judge Elizabeth D. Laporte ruled that the Navy and the National Marine Fisheries Service failed to consider alternatives that could shield whales and other marine life from these loud sounds, which some acousticians compare to standing next to the space shuttle at takeoff. She ordered military and federal regulators to meet with environmental lawyers and their scientific experts...