US Navy Will Use SONAR, Despite Whales

(San Francisco, California) According to this report, the environmentalists are seeing red.

The Bush administration jumped into a long-running legal fray in California on Tuesday, exempting the Navy from a law that environmental groups have used to prevent the use of a type of powerful sonar that is believed to harm whales.

The waiver exempts the Navy from the Coastal Zone Management Act, which allows states a voice in federal activities along their shores. The law had been cited in early January by a federal district judge who issued an injunction against the Navy, stopping it from using the midfrequency sonar in exercises off the Southern Californian coast because of concerns about its effect on certain species of whales.

But on Tuesday, the White House announced that such sonar exercises, used to track enemy submarines, were "essential to national security."

To me, it seems to be a ridiculous controversy. Defense of the United States must have priority over defending against possible harm to whales.

In opposition, Senator Barbara Boxer complained that more tax dollars will now have to be "wasted defending a misguided decision." I agree with Senator Boxer, which is a rarity. Fighting a losing battle in court is a waste and, presumably, if the voting population of the U.S. decided which is more important, the U.S. or the whales? I think the whales are sure losers.

Joel Reynolds, the head whale guy at the Natural Resources Defense Council, also weighed in, stating that it's no secret that the Navy and the White House are "not friendly to the environment." Well, that may or may not be the case, but it's not the primary consideration. Friendly or unfriendly to the environment, the President's job is to protect and defend the United States.