Supreme Court to decide Navy sonar appeal

By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court said on Monday that it would hear a Bush administration appeal of a ruling that restricted the Navy's use of sonar off the southern California coast because the training exercises could harm endangered whales and other marine mammals.

The justices agreed to review a ruling by a U.S. appeals court that upheld a federal judge's order requiring the Navy to take various precautions during the sonar training to minimize harm to dozens of species of whales and dolphins.

The appeals court ruled for environmental groups led by the Natural Resources Defense Council and rejected White House efforts to exempt the Navy from laws intended to protect marine mammals off the California coast.

A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction that barred the Navy's use of powerful submarine-hunting mid-frequency active radar within 12 miles of the coast, protecting a strip of water that is the habitat for the marine mammals.

The injunction imposed other restrictions, including a requirement that the Navy stop using sonar when marine mammals are spotted within 2,200 yards and to reduce sonar decibel levels under certain ocean conditions.

President George W. Bush then intervened, citing the national security necessity of Navy training off the California coast, and exempted the Navy from the environmental laws at the heart of the legal challenge.

COMMON SENSE SAFEGUARDS

Joel Reynolds, senior attorney and director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's Marine Mammal program, said his group already has begun to prepare for Supreme Court review.