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US Supreme Court Allows Sonar Use
gollum123 writes "The US Supreme Court has removed restrictions on the Navy's use of sonar in training exercises near California. The ruling is a defeat for environmental groups who say the sonar can kill whales and other mammals. In its 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court said the Navy needed to conduct realistic training exercises to respond to potential threats. The court did not deal with the merits of the claims put forward by the environmental groups. In reinstating the use of sonar, the top US court rejected a lower federal judge's injunction that had required the US Navy to take various precautions during submarine-hunting exercises. The Bush administration argued that there is little evidence of harm to marine life in more than 40 years of exercises off the California coast. It said that the judges should have deferred to the judgment of the Navy and Mr Bush. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said overall public interest was 'strongly in favor of the Navy.' 'The most serious possible injury would be harm to an unknown number of the marine mammals,' Chief Justice Roberts wrote. 'In contrast, forcing the Navy to deploy an inadequately trained anti-submarine force jeopardizes the safety of the fleet.'"
Yup, it's far more important that we get to work on improving our killing capabilities; who cares if it may or may not harm the environment, let's just wait and see 50 years down the road if any whale species get closer to extinction then they already are.
Just be confident that we'll be able to shoot at the next third world country that bugs us (or has a resource we might like), we'll be able to catch their submarines first! Well...if, y'know, anybody we war with ever uses subs again.
One of the chief responsibilities the government has is to protect its people, and without training on the sonar the government can't do that.
Yes, because Al Queda is looking to bomb us using their fleet of submarines.
Excellent point. I always thought it rather odd that the Communist associated Greens and their fellow travelers only seem fret over the environment where capitalist economies and military capability suffer, while the Communist themselves ravage the environment wherever they actually rule (e.g., old USSR, PRC, etc.). I say go for it Tin Cans, CZ/ODT up the butt!