Federal Appeals Court Upholds Whales 'Protection
By Nicole Belle Sunday Mar 02, 2008 9:40amI blogged about the Bush administration trying to exempt the Navy from environmental protection laws to allow them to use sonar off the coast of California, which studies have shown is extremely dangerous to whales and other marine life. But happily, the Ninth Circuit Court (from my hometown of San Francisco) has pushed back against the Bush administration and has told them they actually have to care about living things besides their cronies.
A federal appeals court has ruled that the Navy must protect endangered whales from the potentially lethal effects of underwater sonar during anti-submarine training off the Southern California coast, rejecting President Bush's attempt to exempt the exercises from environmental laws.
In a Friday night ruling rushed into print ahead of the next scheduled exercise on Monday, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a federal judge's decision that no emergency existed that would justify Bush's intervention.
The Navy is engaged in "long-planned, routine training exercises" and has had ample time to take the steps that the law requires - conduct a thorough review of the environmental consequences and propose effective measures to minimize the harm to whales and other marine mammals, the three-judge panel said.
The court noted that the Navy has been conducting similar exercises for years, has agreed in the past to restrictions like the ones it is now challenging, and was sued by environmental groups in the current case nearly a year ago. The lower-court judge reviewed the evidence and found nothing to support the Navy's claim that the protective measures would interfere with vital training or hamper national security, the court said.
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The Prince and Princess of Whales will be surely relieved to hear of this.
So the navy "saves" the whales, and the Japanese fishing fleet kills them. Nice. It's a no-win situation....for the whales. Wonder how many are actually left in the world.
But happens when the Islamofascists build a whale-like submarine and drive it right into our coastline?!
probably something weird, I guess...
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Chimpy's gonna issue a signing statement disbanding that librul ninth circuit. Nobody gets to take bananas from Chimpy.
Why do people imbue the 9th Circuit's physical location in San Francisco with political meaning? The San Francisco Board of Supervisors doesn't appoint federal judges. It just happens that a high percentage of the 9th Circuit's judges were appointed by Democratic presidents. If they were appointed by Republicans, it would be a conservative court, regardless of where the courthouse building stands.
there's actually quite a few whales now.This is a good turn for sealife.cause there's a whole lotta sealife out there.The whales are in their migratory path right now.Mostly greys but you can see an occasional humpback.Not to mention the different types of porpoise's ,seals, otters, orcas and everything else out there....I swear,boosh reminds me of Nixon and Reagan combinded.Reagan was all for oil off the coast. then came 1969.in Santa Barbara....
when Reagan was governor
[Deleted. Off topic-Sitemonitor]
Dog eat dog
Its dog eat dog--Im just waking up
The dove is in the dungeon
And the white-washed hawks pedal hate and call it love
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I love how they slapped shrub down. Not only is there no reason for the exemption they've already proven they can still function with the protections in place. LOL!
Lame duck doesn't even begin to describe the brain dead moron haunting the oval office like a lingering fart.
As the Court noted, the Navy has disregarded restrictions in the past and - with the entire Bush administration as an example - they will ignore this ruling too.
After all, who's to stop them?
O/T Oil prices have set yet another new high.
It is aways a good thing when courts rule against the Bush administration. But can anyone name a single instance when a court ruling actually caused this criminal enterprise to change it's behavior. They are above the law. They are happy when a court rules with them and if they don't they will just pay no attention. The Supreme Court is in their pocket so they don't really care what a silly appeal's court says.
Dr. Matt @ 13:
Have to keep all the cars running at all costs.
My Husband is an submarine officer. He told me that if there are whales or dolphins nearby, they simply will not use sonar. There are accidents, of course, but the Navy really does try and adhere to the environmental rules. What's unfortunate for the government is that dolphins LOVE submarines. They swim with them all the time. It makes it hard for a sub to do its job.
A rock and a hard place, no? I love ocean mammals and never want anything to happen to them but I also love what the Navy can do for our country silently under our waters.
The wingnuts will blame homo tree hugging San Hussein Francisco.
This will not stop Bush from doing what he wants....
Bush will ignore the court order, just like he ignores the law. No one in Congress is going to call him on it, and Michael 'I'll Prosecute A Crime When I See One' Mukasey has his eyes closed.
Yay! A win for the really big good guys! Save the Whales!
...in unrelated news, Japanese restaurants have a special half off deal on whale takeout.....hmmmmm......
Good news.
If any of you ever get the chance to go on a whale watch, go! My husband and I went on one last summer out of Boston harbor. It's amazing!
ConcernedCanuck @ 21:
At the rate things are going currently by the time the Japanese get through their won't be any whales left.
superdude @ 5:
There are also a few hardcore conservatives on the 9th Circuit, like O'Scainnlan (sp?). He is a Scalia clone.
RayC has it right the Supremes will overrule the 9th and allow anything BushCo wants.
The only hope is the Navy to stop using it.
C&L should also dedicate a topic about this hypocracy!
http://reddit.com/info/6am7j/comments/
An American GI has a puppy in his hands and thows it into a ravine!! A dispicalble act in itself but the hypocritical reactions of people outraged by this act never think twice about the suffering of Iraqis caught in the middle of the so called war on terror!!!
Of course the culprit shoud be punished for this insane act of cruelty but is a puppy the first thing you think of in a conflict of war?? People are dying there!!!
Man!!
Look how Digg reacts!! Where's the nuance!??
http://digg.com/pets_animals/David_Motari_MUST_DIE_PUPPY_KILLER
Good news, but BushCo don't care about no stinkin' court rulings.
At least the whales will only have to suffer for another 322 days, just like the rest of us...
Don't worry. I'm sure SCOTUS will come to the rescue so we can kill the whales. Scotus and the Repugs are all about killing anything that is the least bit different from they. The United States has become a the murder country.
Yes, but what would Simon Cowell say about their singing?
Scy @ 29:
60 Minutes last night had a story about an urban pacification I think they call it. It's a laser cannon that's been available for 10 years, that if people gets too close it creates a sensation of burning water until they back off, apparently without any permanent damage.
A military official who's a specialist in this and other purely defensive mechanism, such a a gun that shoots bean bags, say they don't get priority from the brass, because they're non-lethal.
ysbaddaden @ 31:
So supposedly, are Tasers.
Personally, I'm sick and tired of local (at least here in SoFla) law enforcement getting all this high-tech (read: high-dollar) equipment, plus all the newest 4WD SUVs with alloy wheels, etc, to subdue local criminals. And if you object, you, of course, support the criminals and hate the police. Sound familiar??
ysbaddaden @ 31:
Yeah like all the other 'non-lethal' weapons. The tazers that cause heart attacks, the water cannons that break limbs or the latest 'microwave' gun which basically cooks you in your skin. No idea what the long term effects are or the permanent damage it may cause. Why would they care? If it doesn't kill people outright that makes it ok to use. Whether it's deadly later or not, well, that's someone else's problem.
I disagree on the ocean has plenty of life.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004182252_webdeadzone...
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2008/03/02/4887769-ap.html
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002785280_storm05m.html
Exciting times ahead and challenges for our survival. We could keep our eye on the war and forget everything else, or have time for peace and solve our problems of natures wrath.
ysbaddaden @ 31:
Wow. Hadn't heard that one.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2004/feb/22/usnews.theobserver
They are coming up with a contingency plan for all this chaos coming with global warming. Water will be the next gold bullions. We fight for Oil today, but soon we will fight for water, and the poor people will just have to not suck it up!
Isn't marvelous that Bush has no plans for preventing global warming but has plan to keep his cronies safe and happy in the pristine water supply of the world in Paraguay???
I used to whale-watch in Hawaii, off the Kona coast of the Big Island. An incredible experience.
I'd like to blast a few sonar waves into Commander Bunnypants' empty skull.
An innocent puppy thrown into a ravine by an American GI, an innocent Iraqi child blown to bits by an American bomb ...
I's all filthy and despicable, and part and parcel of this illegal, immoral, murderous invasion of Iraq. It's all horrible, it's all rotten -- and the hell with those who try to raise that tired old "people vs. animals" shibboleth. Life is life, period.
Thank you for blogging on this...I hope that since it is the 9th Circuit Court that it also means that the Puget Sound Whales and Wildlife are protected from sonar as well....
...except the Muslim whales.
Why would this administration have more regard for whales than it does people?
How to explain this to the navy? Put steel garbage cans over the heads of as many admirals as you can round up. Wail on garbage cans with shovels. Can you hear me now?
Save the Humans!
the entire bush and cheney families should go swimming off the shore of california
during one of these tests. i wonder if they were surfing, if this would be called
waterboarding? we could test this on them since they don't consider this torture,
right?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_mPHwGLpDo&feature=related
YAY !
Bush was originally for protecting the whales until he heard that whale oil wasn't very marketable.
Whales won one battle but the way Bush deals with climate-change he will propably win the war.
Screw the NAVY. Yet another argument in favor of secession and California INDEPENDENCE!!!!
ysbaddaden @ 30:
He called it "pitchy" but said they were "decent karaoke singers."
Tom from NJ @ 41:
Indeed! I'm glad that there is a court order to protect endangered whales, but when will someone do something to protect endangered Iraqis?
If you would like to find out more about marine animals found around the planet, feel free to check out: http://www.planetflipper.com today!
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