Less than a year after three dozen whales beached themselves along a stretch of North Carolina shoreline, the Navy is proceeding with plans for an underwater sonar training range off the stateﾴs coast.
The proposed range ﾖ the first of its kind on the East Coast ﾖ would be used as often as 161 times a year, according to a draft environmental impact statement released this week.
The proposal comes as marine mammal experts, environmentalists and military officials await word on whether Navy sonar played a part in Januaryﾴs stranding of three species of whales along the Outer Banks.
It also comes days after the National Resources Defense Council sued the Navy, alleging that its use of mid frequency sonar damages mammals by exposing them to dangerous levels of underwater noise. The lawsuit seeks to force the Navy to take precautions in using mid frequency sonar, which detects the movement of ships and submarines.
Sonar and its effect on mammals is contentious. Itﾴs widely accepted among scientists that exposure to noise ﾖ and sonar can top the sound of a jet engine at takeoff ﾖ can injure or even kill marine mammals that rely on a biological version of sonar to navigate the worldﾴs waters.
The Navy doesnﾴt dispute that sonar may have caused the stranding of 16 whales in the Bahamas five years ago during its sonar training exercise. But the service contends that sonar is crucial for national security and disputes its effect on mammals.
ﾓSubmarines continue to proliferate among non democratic nations of the world. This global submarine threat is increasingly more menacing to the Navyﾴs mission and to the task of delivering fighting forces overseas,ﾒ the Navy said in its executive summary.
The 1,500-page document is to be formally released Friday .
The Navyﾴs top choice for the range is off the coast of central North Carolina. Its second and third preferences are Virginia, near Wallops Island, and the coast of Jacksonville, Fla. Submarines from all three Eastern homeports ﾖ Norfolk ; Groton, Conn. ; and Kings Bay, Ga. ﾖ would use the range, as would ships, helicopters and planes from various bases.
The Navy report indicated that ﾓthe overwhelming majorityﾒ of injuries arenﾴt serious.
Fleet Forces spokesman Jim Brantley said what constitutes an ﾓoverwhelming majorityﾒ differs from site to site.
In Virginia, for instance, Navy acoustic models predict that no more than one mammal per year ﾖ likely a common dolphin ﾖ would be exposed to a sound level resulting in potential injury. In addition, it predicted that three beaked whales might change their behavior in a way that causes injury.
Brantley didnﾴt provide the expected number of injuries for the preferred site off of North Carolina.
The National Institute of Marine Fisheries has investigated last yearﾴs whale deaths, but the report has not been released. The National Resources Defense Council has sued, contending that the report must be made public under the federal Freedom of Information Act.
Michael Jasny , a Vancouver, Wash.- attorney for the organization, said Friday that the Navy shouldnﾴt proceed with its analysis of the shallow-water training range until it knows what forced the whales to strand in North Carolina.
ﾓItﾴs premature for the Navy to have issued this document, and expect the public to respond before that report is released,ﾒ Jasny said. ﾓThe Navy has clearly jumped the gun in a way thatﾴs going to foreclose meaningful review. Itﾴs a real concern.ﾒ
The range would cover 500 square miles that would be outfitted with about 300 underwater microphones, or nodes. The recorders would be connected to one another and to the mainland by a cable that would transmit information about subsﾴ and shipsﾴ locations to better train sailors in anti-submarine warfare. The set up allows Navy analysts to examine whatﾴs happening in real time and to store it for future evaluation.
Navy officials envision four scenarios for the range, the most extensive of which would involve two surface ships, two helicopters and a submarine. Most exercises would not use live weapons; but once a year, each ship would be permitted to fire one anti-submarine rocket at a simulated target.
The most common scenario ﾖ which would be scheduled a maximum of 98 times a year ﾖ would involve a single plane or helicopter searching for one submarine. None of the 161 exercises would last longer than six hours.
Still, Jasny said thatﾴs a busy schedule.
ﾓSonar is shown to cause whales to break off feeding, to change the way they vocalize,ﾒ Jasny said. ﾓIf you extend those impacts over months and seasons and years, the effects could be devastating. The problem is that these are exactly the kinds of impacts that are so difficult to study. You can have populations in decline for years without anyone knowing.ﾒ
Residents living near the three alternatives in Virginia, North Carolina and Florida will be able to comment at public hearings starting in mid-November. The Virginia hearing is scheduled in Chincoteague on Nov. 15 . North Carolinaﾴs hearing is Nov. 17, and Floridaﾴs is Nov. 21 , Brantley said.
By KATE WILTROUT, The Virginian-Pilot
