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SAN FRANCISCO—The U.S. Navy agreed in a settlement approved Tuesday to limit where it operates certain sonar systems criticized by environmentalists as a threat to whales and other marine mammals. The settlement approved Tuesday by a federal judge in San Francisco restricts the Navy's use of low-frequency sonar to specific military training areas near Hawaii and in the western Pacific Ocean.

Defense: The Supreme Court has agreed to decide if the safety and security of whales trumps that of the United States. Protecting Shamu may make both the California Coastal Commission and the Iranian navy happy.In 2006, the U.S. Navy settled a lawsuit filed by the National Resources Defense Council seeking to permanently halt the use of active sonar in training exercises. This temporary reprieve let the Navy practice and train in anti-submarine warfare exercises against some of the most modern and quiet diesel-electric submarines in the world. The RIMPAC 2006 exercise was one of the rare opportunities the Navy had...

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...

The Justice Department is asking the Supreme Court to review a federal appeals court decision limiting the Navy's use of sonar off the Southern California coast because of potential harm to dolphins and whales. In a petition filed Monday, the Justice Department argues that the decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco jeopardizes the Navy's ability to train sailors and Marines for service in wartime.

A federal appeals court has ruled that the Navy must protect endangered whales from the potentially lethal effects of underwater sonar during anti-submarine training off the Southern California coast, rejecting President Bush's attempt to exempt the exercises from environmental laws. In a Friday night ruling rushed into print ahead of the next scheduled exercise on Monday, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a federal judge's decision that no emergency existed that would justify Bush's intervention. The Navy is engaged in "long-planned, routine training exercises" and has had ample time to take the steps that the...

Honolulu (AP) -- A federal judge has ordered the Navy to take additional precautions when conducting sonar exercises off Hawaii that environmentalists say can seriously injure or kill marine mammals. U.S. District Judge David Ezra said Friday the Navy cannot conduct exercises within 12 nautical miles, or 13.8 miles, of the shoreline, where species that are particularly sensitive to sonar, such as the beaked whale, are found. Among other requirements, the Navy must look for marine mammals for one hour each day before using sonar, employ three lookouts exclusively to spot the animals during sonar use and stop sonar transmission...

San Francisco -- For the second time this week, a federal court found today that a Navy anti-submarine training program threatened to subject whales and other sea creatures to harmful blasts of sonar and ordered protective measures in several sensitive zones, including one near Monterey Bay. The ruling by U.S. Magistrate Elizabeth Laporte of San Francisco applies to the Navy's use of low-frequency sonar in submarine detection exercises conducted in large areas of the world's oceans. She said Navy officials, who had agreed to restrictions after she issued a similar ruling in 2002, failed to take adequate precautions when seeking...

LOS ANGELES — President Bush cannot exempt the Navy from environmental laws placing strict limits on sonar training that environmentalists argue is harmful to whales, a federal judge ruled Monday. "We are aware of the court's decision and we are studying it," said Navy spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Cindy Moore in Washington D.C. The president signed a waiver Jan. 15 exempting the Navy and its anti-submarine warfare exercises from a preliminary injunction creating a 12-nautical-mile, no-sonar zone along California's Southern coast. The Navy's attorneys argued in court last week that he was within his legal rights. U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper...

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- The Navy must follow environmental laws placing strict limits on sonar training that opponents argue harms whales, despite President Bush's decision to exempt it, a federal judge ruled Monday. A federal judge ruled that the Navy must limit sonar training that some say hurts whales. The Navy is not "exempted from compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act" and a court injunction creating a 12 nautical-mile no-sonar zone off Southern California, U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper wrote in a 36-page decision. "We disagree with the (exemption) judge's decision," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said. "We...

LOS ANGELES - President Bush cannot exempt the Navy from environmental laws banning sonar training that opponents argue harms whales, a federal judge ruled Monday. Navy officials did not immediately respond to the ruling by U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper. Mark Matsunaga, spokesman for the Navy's Pacific Fleet, headquartered in Hawaii, said officials needed time to review it before commenting. The president signed a waiver Jan. 15 exempting the Navy and its anti-submarine warfare exercises from a preliminary injunction creating a 12 nautical-mile no-sonar zone off Southern California. The Navy's attorneys argued in court last week that he was within...

SAN DIEGO The Navy has resumed sonar training off the coast of Southern California despite the continuing legal battle over how the exercises affect whales and other marine mammals. The training by the carrier strike group of the USS Abraham Lincoln is part of a broader exercise to prepare the group for deployment, the Navy said in a news release. During the exercises, which began Wednesday and were scheduled to last through February 1, sailors train in anti-submarine warfare, ocean security operations and other areas. The anti-submarine warfare exercises use mid-frequency active sonar that environmentalists say hurts whales and other...

"Pod of whales bearing zero-zero-zero, range 2,000 metres," a US sailor shouts to his commander, warning whales have moved in front of the ship as it hunts a submarine off the California coast.Within minutes, the whales have moved to within 200 metres of the ship, forcing its commander to turn off the active sonar being used to search for a sub that has eluded the USS Momsen and other ships for three days during a training exercise.Below deck, the regular ping of the sub-hunting sonar - which environmental groups claim hurts and even kills whales - goes quiet and four...

WASHINGTON — President Bush exempted the Navy from an environmental law so it can continue using sonar in its anti-submarine warfare training off the California coast — a practice critics say is harmful to whales and other marine mammals. The White House announced Wednesday that Bush had signed the exemption Tuesday while traveling in the Middle East. The Navy training exercises, including the use of sonar, "are in the paramount interest of the United States" and its national security, Bush said in a memorandum. "This exemption will enable the Navy to train effectively and to certify carrier and expeditionary strike...

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge has ordered the Navy to adopt stringent new safeguards intended to improve protection of whales and dolphins during its sonar training exercises off Southern California. The ruling, issued Thursday by Judge Florence-Marie Cooper of the United States District Court for the Central District of California, orders the Navy to limit its use of medium-range sonar to an area beyond 12 nautical miles from shore. Closer to the shore, marine mammals have exhibited frenzied and disoriented behavior during the emissions of sonar blasts as part of the Navy’s practice missions. Judge Cooper’s order also outlined...

PEARL HARBOR (NNS) -- Navy officials said they are optimistic that a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Nov. 13 ordered a lower court to rewrite restrictions on the Navy's use of sonar in certain Southern California exercises. That ruling was part of a lawsuit challenging the Navy's ability to train Sailors before they deploy to potential hotspots. The Navy had asked the appeals court to overturn a preliminary injunction that was granted by a U.S. district judge on Aug. 6, 2007, that bars the Navy from using active sonar in certain multi-ship exercises off Southern...

SAN FRANCISCO - A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered the U.S. Navy to lessen the harm its high-power sonar does to whales and other marine life during exercises off the Southern California coast. The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals sent the matter to a trial judge in Los Angeles to figure out exactly how to fix the problem it says is apparent with the sonar. The three-judge panel said the sonar needs to be fixed before the Navy's next planned exercise in January. The action was taken because the court said it's likely the Natural Resources Defense Council...

San Francisco (AP) -- A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered the U.S. Navy to lessen the harm its high-power sonar does to whales and other marine life during exercises off the Southern California coast. The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals sent the matter to a trial judge in Los Angeles to figure out exactly how to fix the problem it says is apparent with the sonar. The three-judge panel said the sonars need to be fixed before the Navy's next planned exercise in January. The action was taken because the court said it's likely the Natural Resources Defense...

A federal appeals court allowed the Navy today to resume using underwater sonar blasts in anti-submarine warfare tests off the Channel Islands in Southern California, saying the nation’s military needs outweigh the safety of endangered whales. In a 2-1 decision, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco suspended an April 6 injunction by a federal judge in Los Angeles that ordered the Navy to halt the sonar experiments during training exercises scheduled through 2009. In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper said the underwater sound waves could harm nearly 30 species of marine mammals, including five...

National security is more important than protecting whales or other marine life that could be harmed during exercises scheduled for this month off the coast of San Diego County, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday. The 2-1 decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted an injunction issued Aug. 6 by a lower court. The injunction barred the Navy from conducting sonar training off Southern California until a lawsuit brought by environmentalists is resolved. The appellate ruling is a setback for a coalition of environmentalists led by the Natural Resources Defense Council, which is suing to force the...

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 31 — A three-judge panel of a federal appeals court here ruled Friday that the Navy could use high-intensity sonar during military exercises in the Pacific, despite worries about its potentially lethal effect on whales and other marine mammals. The 2-to-1 decision, by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, stays a temporary injunction on the sonar’s use that was handed down in early August by a federal district judge in Los Angeles. It is the latest turn in a lengthy seesaw battle between the military and environmental groups over this so-called midfrequency sonar,...