Joint Press Release from Defenders of Wildlife,
Earthjustice, The Humane Society of the United States, Natural Resources
Defense Council, and the Southern Environmental Law Center
For Immediate Release: January 28, 2010
Map, photos and video b-roll available
Contacts:
Catherine Wannamaker, attorney, 404-521-9900 or Kathleen
Sullivan, SELC, 919-945-7106, ksullivan@selcnc.org
Sierra Weaver, attorney, Defenders of Wildlife,
202-772-3274, sweaver@defenders.org
Steve Roady, attorney, Earthjustice, 202-667-4500,
sroady@earthjustice.org
Kristen Eastman, PR manager, The HSUS, 301-721-6440,
keastman@humanesociety.org
Jessica
Lass, press secretary, NRDC, 310-434-2300, jlass@nrdc.org
Conservation groups in
court to save highly endangered whales
Right whales' only known
calving grounds threatened by Navy project
ATLANTA—Conservation groups today challenged the U.S.
Navy’s decision to build its $100 million Undersea Warfare Training Range 50
miles east of Jacksonville, Florida next to the only known calving ground for
the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. The Southern
Environmental Law Center, Defenders of Wildlife, Earthjustice, Natural
Resources Defense Council, The Humane Society of the United States, and nine
other conservation groups brought the challenge.
“Right whales shouldn’t be subjected to the threats that
accompany this range – ship strikes, entanglement and noise disturbance -
in the only place in the world where vulnerable females give birth to and
care for their calves,” said Catherine Wannamaker, an attorney with Southern
Environmental Law Center. “While we recognize the Navy’s need to train, there
are ways to accommodate that need without introducing multiple risks of harm
into such a sensitive area.”
The project threatens the already precarious
survival of right whales by introducing multiple known threats--ship strikes,
entanglement, and noise disturbances--into an area critical to mothers and
calves.
“The people of the southeast who welcome the return of the
right whales each year know all too well the gruesome results when one is
struck by a ship,” said Sierra Weaver, attorney for Defenders of
Wildlife. “This project will almost certainly increase that threat, and
yet the National Marine Fisheries Service, the agency in charge of protecting
the whales, has given the Navy a green light.”
The legal challenge alleges that the Navy and the
National Marine Fisheries Service failed to study the environmental impacts of
building and operating the training range at this location. The Navy
decided to construct the range now, even though it acknowledges that more
research needs to be done on the range’s environmental impacts before
operations can begin. In documents filed with the court, the groups argue
that the agencies must first address the impacts from operating the range
before deciding to construct it.
“The Navy’s decision to shoot first and study the
environmental impacts of using this facility later simply makes no sense,” said
Sharon Young, field director of The HSUS. “The Navy is playing Russian
roulette with one of our most imperiled wildlife species.”
“The science here is settled,” said Steve Roady of
Earthjustice. “Right whales are critically endangered and the government knows
it. Under the circumstances, it is baffling that NMFS and the Navy could be
planning to proceed with this project that places so many of these whales at
risk. This is decidedly not sound science; it is fundamentally unsound.”
As part of the planned training, Navy ships – exempt from
speed restrictions designed to protect right whales – would pass through
the calving grounds when traveling between the proposed training area and bases
at Jacksonville, FL, and Kings Bay, GA. Ship strikes are the single largest
cause of death for right whales with at least eight right whales killed in the
past six years, including three pregnant females. Ship traffic in the calving
grounds is of particular concern since data suggests female right whales are
struck more often, possibly because they must spend more time at the surface
with their calves which have undeveloped lung capacities. Scientists believe
that the loss of even one right whale from non-natural causes could jeopardize
the future of the species.
“Right whales already face a triple threat: sonar
exposure, collisions with ships and debris entanglement,” said Taryn Kiekow,
staff attorney with NRDC. “Science tells us the loss of even a single North
Atlantic right whale could threaten the survival of the entire species. Constructing
a training range in the only area where the North Atlantic right whales give
birth and nurture their young will only exacerbate the already tenuous grip
this species has on survival.”
After laying cables through the 500 square nautical mile
training area, the Navy plans to conduct 470 annual exercises on the training
range with up to three vessels and two aircraft deploying exercise torpedoes,
parachutes and sonobuoys, and sonar and other noise pollution. Sonar can cause
a range of impacts on marine wildlife -- from disrupting nursing and feeding to
injury and death in some cases. Debris left behind on the range may heighten
risk of entanglement. According to scientists, approximately 14 to 51 percent
of the right whale population is entangled each year which can interfere with
eating, breathing or swimming.
Despite strong concerns expressed by Georgia and Florida,
conservation groups, and scientists, the Navy decided to proceed with its plans
without implementing recommended measures that could have lessened the
impact of its activities.
The challenge was filed today in U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of Georgia by Defenders of Wildlife, The Humane Society
of the United States, Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, Natural
Resources Defense Council, Center for a Sustainable Coast, Florida Wildlife
Federation, North Carolina Wildlife Federation, South Carolina
Coastal Conservation League, Animal Welfare Institute, Ocean Mammal Institute,
Citizens Opposing Active Sonar Threats, and Cetacean Society International. The
groups are represented by attorneys from Southern Environmental Law Center,
Defenders of Wildlife, Earthjustice, and Natural Resources Defense Council.
###
Note to editors:
· Photos
and video b-roll of right whales are available at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/cetaceans/rightwhale_photos.htm
or by contacting the GA Department of Natural Resources.
· A map
showing the proposed project and right whale sightings is available by
contacting ksullivan@selcnc.org
·
Comments on the project by groups can be found at: http://projects.earthtech.com/uswtr/USWTR_library/comment_letters/coded_comments_2008_p1.html
· The U.S.
Navy’s final Environmental Impact Statement is available at http://projects.earthtech.com/uswtr/EIS/FOEIS-EIS_2009/FOEIS-EIS_2009.htm
· The U.S.
Navy record of decision document can be found on the project website at http://projects.earthtech.com/uswtr/USWTR_library/PDF_library/ROD/ROD.pdf
· NMFS
Biological Opinion can be found at: http://projects.earthtech.com/uswtr/USWTR_library/PDF_library/Technical_Report/NMFS%20Biological%20Opinion.pdf
·
Georgia’s correspondence after final EIS can be found at: http://projects.earthtech.com/uswtr/USWTR_library/PDF_library/Agency_Correspondence/GA%20CCD%20letter%20June%2026%202009.pdf
and http://projects.earthtech.com/uswtr/USWTR_library/PDF_library/Agency_Correspondence/GA%20CCD%20letter%20July%2020%202009.pdf
·
Florida’s correspondence after final EIS can be found at: http://projects.earthtech.com/uswtr/USWTR_library/PDF_library/Agency_Correspondence/FL%20DEP%20letter%20July%2027%202009.pdf
About Defenders of Wildlife
Defenders of Wildlife is dedicated to the protection of
all native animals and plants in their natural communities. With more than one
million members and activists, Defenders of Wildlife is a leading advocate for
innovative solutions to safeguard our wildlife heritage for generations to
come. For more information, visit www.defenders.org.
About Earthjustice
Earthjustice (www.earthjustice.org) is a non-profit
public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the magnificent places,
natural resources, and wildlife of this earth, and to defending the right of
all people to a healthy environment.
About The Humane Society of the United States
The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's
largest animal protection organization — backed by 11 million Americans, or one
of every 28. For more than a half-century, The HSUS has been fighting for the
protection of all animals through advocacy, education and hands-on programs.
Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty — On the web at humanesociety.org.
About the Natural Resources Defense Council
NRDC is an international, nonprofit organization of
scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists dedicated to protecting
public health and the environment. Founded in 1970, NRDC has 1.3 million
members and online activists, served from offices in New York, Washington,
Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Beijing. www.nrdc.org
About Southern Environmental Law Center
The Southern Environmental Law Center is the only regional
nonprofit using the power of the law to protect the health and environment of
the Southeast (Virginia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and
Alabama). Founded in 1986, SELC's team of 40 legal experts represent more than
100 partner groups on issues of climate change and energy, air and water
quality, forests, the coast and wetlands, transportation, and land use.
WEB: www.SouthernEnvironment.org
FACEBOOK: http://www.fanofselc.org
TWITTER: http://www.twitter.com/selc_org