A federal court has struck down a waiver issued by the White House stating that President Bush cannot exempt the U.S. Navy from complying with environmental law during sonar training exercises off southern California.

In nullifying the waiver, U.S. District Court Judge Florence-Marie Cooper reaffirmed an injunction issued early in January of this year, requiring the Navy to reduce harm to whales and other marine mammals from sonar training. On January 15, President Bush issued the Navy an unprecedented waiver under the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA), and allowed the Navy an "emergency" waiver under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), for a series of training exercises involving high-intensity, mid-frequency sonar now underway. Those statutes are the basis of a January 3 injunction issued by Judge Cooper, requiring the Navy to monitor for and avoid marine mammals while operating sonar during the SOCAL naval exercises.

The judge has now reaffirmed the injunction, which requires the Navy to maintain a 12 nautical mile no-sonar buffer zone along the California coastline; to avoid other key whale habitat; to shut down sonar when marine mammals are spotted within 2,000 meters; and to monitor for marine mammals using various methods, among other measures.

The waters off Southern California have some of the richest marine habitat in the country, and include five endangered species of whales, a globally important population of blue whales, the largest animal ever to live on Earth, and seven species of beaked whales, which are known to be particularly vulnerable to underwater sound.

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