The Surveillance Towed Array Sonar System (SURTASS) Low Frequency Act (LFA) Sonar is an extraordinarily powerful system the Navy seeks to deploy in 80% of the world's oceans. One observation about the potential effects of this system on marine mammals, such as whales, comes from the United States Marine Mammal Commission:

"the possible effects could include:

• death from lung hemmorrhage or other tissue trauma;
  
• temporary or permanent hearing loss or impairment;
  
• disruption of feeding, breeding, nursing, acoustic communication and sensing, or other vital behavior and, if the disruption is severe, frequent, or long lasting, possible decreases in individual survival and productivity and corresponding decreases in population size and productivity;
  
• annoyance and subsequent abandonment or avoidance of traditional feeding, breeding, or other biologically important habitats and, if suitable alternative habitats are not available nearby, decreases in both individual survival and productivity and in population size and productivity;
  
• psychological and physiological stress, making animals more vulnerable to disease, parasites, predation; and
  
• changes in the distribution abundance, or productivity of important marine mammal prey species and subsequent decreases in both individual marine mammal survival and productivity and in population size and productivity."

PRESS RELEASE

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2000

CONTACT: Lanny Sinkin (808) 961-9100

Today [Tuesday, February 29], ten national and Hawaiian organizations and an elected official filed suit in a Honolulu federal court to halt the US Navy's preparations to deploy a low frequency active sonar system, known as LFAS.

The suit alleges that the Navy is violating environmental laws by spending hundreds of millions of dollars on the sonar system before completing the analysis of the system's environmental effects.

The suit also alleges that the Navy is conducting a biased environmental study designed to justify the expenditures already made, rather than objectively evaluate the potential for harm to whales and other marine life.

The plaintiffs claim that the sonar system poses a threat to marine life, including whales, and to human swimmers and divers.

The suit seeks an injunction to stop the Navy from making any further "irreversible or irretrievable commitments" to deployment of the sonar, until the environmental impact statement is complete and the federal court finds the statement to be adequate.

The suit also seeks an injunction to prevent the National Marine Fisheries Service from processing a Navy application for a deployment permit until the Navy is in compliance with environmental laws.

Increased concern about the safety of the low frequency sonar system emerged during testing off the Island of Hawai`i in March 1998. Whale watch captains reported the Humpback Whales to be leaving the testing area. A snorkeler in the water during a broadcast emerged with symptoms a doctor described as similar to a trauma patient in a hospital. Four law suits, which sought to stop the testing, were declared moot by the courts when the Navy ended the testing and left Hawai`i.

The new law suit alleges that the draft environmental impact statement deliberately omitted all of the evidence presented by those filing the suits during the Hawaiian testing.

The plantiffs filing the suit are the Hawai`i County Green Party; Julie Jacobson, a member of the Hawaii County Council; Ocean Mammal Institute; Animal Welfare Institute; Sea Shepherd Conservation Society; Stop LFAS Worldwide Network; Silent Oceans Trust, Inc.; Kohanaiki `Ohana; Universal Cetacean Institute; Orca Quest; and Whale Rescue Team.

------------end of press release-----------

INDEX TO DOCUMENTS RELATED TO LOW FREQUENCY SONAR LITIGATION

The following index will take you to documents related to Hawai`i County Green Party et al. vs. William Clinton Jefferson, et al. This suit seeks an injunction to prevent the United States Navy from continuing to spend funds preparing to deploy a low frequency active sonar system in 80% of the world's oceans and an injunction to stop the National Marine Fisheries Service from issuing the Navy a permit to deploy this system.

The litigation is based on three separate causes:

• The Navy has spend more than $350 million preparing to deploy the low frequency active sonar system without completing the environmental impact statement (EIS) for this deployment. The law requires completion of an EIS before making any "irreversible or irretrievable commitments of resources."

• The Navy is conducting an environmental impact statement process which is not objective. The EIS process appears to be designed simply to justify deployment, not evaluate environmental impacts.

• The Navy applied to the National Marine Fisheries Service for a permit to deploy the sonar system despite the fact the Navy is violating the laws under which such permits are granted, has not completed the environmental impact statement upon which such a permit would be based, and has conducted a biased environmental impact statement process.

The Plaintiffs - The organizations and individual currently participating in the litigation as plaintiffs.

The Evidence - Some of the evidence supporting the allegations in the litigation.

The Law - The law relevant to this litigation.

Information - Links to articles and additional information about low frequency active sonar and its effects on the marine environment and humans.

Support - How you can participate in the international effort to stop deployment of this system.

Letter to Secretaries of Commerce and the Navy - Formal notice of violation sent to Secretary of Commerce and Secretary of the Navy.

Letter to Secretary of Defense - A letter urging the Secretary of Defense to intervene before a federal judge is forced to choose between enforcing environmental laws and deferring to Navy claims of national security.

After the filing the suit, the Hawai`i County Green Party learned that the Navy is planning to conduct further LFA tests. The 1998 suit filed by the Party challenging such testing was dismissed as moot because the Navy told the judge they did not intend to conduct any further tests. With this new information, the Party now seeks to reopen the 1998 case and consolidate that case with the new case filed on February 29, 2000.

To review the Navy plans, you can read the email received by Dr. Marsha Green, President of the Ocean Mammal Institute.

To join in the campaign to get Congress to stop the testing and review the program, please see the action alert..

Inquiries regarding this litigation should be directed to:

Lanny Sinkin
P. O. Box 944
Hilo, Hawai`i 96721
(808) 961-9100
FAX: (808) 934-9609
light@ilhawaii.net