This week started off with a bang and it continues with a lot of whooshing sounds. On Monday the Federal Court entered a ruling in our favor against the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for approving the US Navy’s request…
Given their candor in the recent past it is not too surprising that the US Navy their Atlantic Fleet Testing and Training (AFTT) plan will “inadvertently kill hundreds of whales and dolphins and injure thousands over the next five years.”…
A few weeks ago we put out a newsletter commenting on the candor of the U.S. Navy in the release of their Hawaii-Southern California Testing and Training Range “Draft Environmental Impact Statement (HSTT-DEIS). I’ve just sent in our comment letter…
About ten years ago I attended a workshop sponsored by the US Navy on the “Environmental Consequences of Underwater Sound” (ECOUS) attended by scientists, geophysicists, regulators, Navy personnel, and a couple of us from the environmental NGO community (eNGO’s). We…
I’ve just returned from a symposium on “Cetaceans and Noise Mapping” sponsored by NOAA and agency partners Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Office of Naval Research (ONR). The purpose of the meeting was to explore and expand…
This last weekend the U.S. Navy issued a press release over the wires that was carried by a number of national news outlets. The piece anticipates the submittal of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for public review on the…
On Friday Scientific American online published an article about ocean noise pollution research. The article covers the work of Chris Clark who has been doing some fabulous passive acoustic monitoring of Right whales in the Stellwagen Banks National Marine Sanctuary…
We are closing in on a public comment period for the proposed Northwest Warfare Training Range Complex Environmental Impact Statement (NWTRC – EIS) The comment deadlines are October 24 for the US Navy, and October 31 for NOAA. The NWTRC…
The Northwest Warfare Training Range Complex Environmental Impact Statement (NWTRC-EIS) has been on my sonar for a while now. It seems as if the Navy would like to make the entire ocean a “warfare training range.” While I have written…
I find myself again in Washington DC, this time for a workshop on “Marine Mammals and Sound” sponsored by an interagency group which includes NOAA, the Minerals Management Service, and the Navy. (Interagency cooperation will be one of the hallmarks…