[IMC-Editorial] Fwd: NRDC wins landmark case against Navy sonar!

[The Sacred Earth Society]

This is a forwarded message
From: John Adams <members at nrdcaction.org>
To: info at sacredearth.org
Date: Thursday, August 28, 2003, 9:55:57 AM
Subject: NRDC wins landmark case against Navy sonar!

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Dear NRDC Member,

A federal court has just handed down its decision in our case against the U.S. 
Navy and I wanted you to be the first to hear the great news. In a resounding 
victory for whales and other marine mammals, the court ruled that it will bar 
the Navy from deploying its high-intensity LFA sonar system across most of the 
world's oceans. 

The LFA (Low Frequency Active) sonar system would have blasted hundreds of 
thousands of square miles of ocean habitat with noise so intense it can maim, 
deafen and even kill whales. In her historic ruling, Judge LaPorte agreed with 
NRDC that the sonar's booming noise could "irreparably harm" the marine 
environment and threaten the very survival of endangered populations of whales, 
sea turtles and other marine species. 

Judge LaPorte has ordered the Navy to begin negotiations with NRDC on a plan 
for safely testing the sonar system in a limited area.

This is truly a banner day for the Earth's environment. The court has granted a 
life-saving reprieve to dozens of species of magnificent marine mammals. But 
its ruling also sends a message loud and clear to the White House that it is 
not above our nation's environmental laws. The Bush administration trampled all 
over those laws when it gave the Navy a blank check to operate the deadly LFA 
sonar system virtually anywhere in the world. 

It's also a banner day for hundreds of thousands of NRDC members and activists 
like you. When we began this fight eight years ago, we were told that our 
chances of stopping the military's classified LFA program were slim to none. 
But that conventional wisdom seriously underestimated the collective power of a 
determined citizenry. 

Your financial contributions and online activism fueled an NRDC legal strategy 
that prevailed, in the end, over the world's most powerful military 
establishment. There is no finer example of democracy in action. 

The fight to protect our oceans against high-intensity sonar is not over. The 
Navy could appeal the court's ruling. And right now the Bush administration is 
trying to get exemptions for the Navy from some of the very environmental laws 
NRDC used to block deployment of the LFA system. With your help, NRDC will do 
everything it can to ensure that these efforts do not succeed. 

But all that lies ahead. For today, at least, we've won a significant victory, 
one worth savoring and celebrating. On behalf of our entire legal team, I want 
to thank you for coming to the defense of marine mammals around the world.

Sincerely,

John H. Adams
President
Natural Resources Defense Council

NRDC Press Release: http://www.nrdc.org/media/pressreleases/030826.asp
Washington Post story: http://www.nrdc.org/news/newsDetails.asp?nID=1075

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