Navy, NRDC Settle Whale Suit:
The Navy and the Natural Resources Defense Council have settled the latter's lawsuit over the potential impact of Navy sonar on whales in the Pacific. According to the AP, the deal requires the Navy to continue researching the effect of sonar on marine mammals, but will not have to adopt any additional mitigation measures.
Related Posts (on one page):
- Navy, NRDC Settle Whale Suit:
- Habeas Porpoise - Marine Mammals vs. Navy Sonar:
Besides, the navy has every reason to continue researching mammalian sonar. This is what they do anyway.
As I recall, the NRDC's suit was a NEPA claim--basically, a suit alleging procedural defects (specifically, that the Navy didn't file an environmental assessment as required by the statute). If I remember my environmental law class correctly, the remedies under NEPA are procedural: the most the NRDC would have gotten was an injunction until the Navy filed an EA.
The NRDC didn't make any substantive claims in its suit. For example, the suit didn't claim that the Navy was in fact harming endangered whales or whatever. They'd have been free to raise that claim in another suit, this time with the real possibility of a permanent injunction instead of a mere stopgap while an EA is written up.
The settlement strikes me as eminently sensible, since, as you point out, the Navy is interested in researching this stuff anyway, and now, they can avoid lawsuits about it so long as they issue reports.
Cetologists, one would imagine.
Whales are smart. If MF sonar hurts them they'll swim somewhere else. The ocean is big, you know.
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