The US Navy wants to install a $100 million offshore training range, which would include an undersea array of cables and sensors for training warships, submarines and aircraft about 50 miles off the Atlantic coast of southern Georgia and northern Florida.  Environmentalists are seeking to block the project, saying it’s too close to waters where North Atlantic right whales migrate near shore each winter to birth their calves.  Right whales are highly endangered. Only about 400 North Atlantic right whales remain.  A Federal judge is being asked to rule on the lawsuit filed against the Navy by a dozen conservation groups.

Judge Hears Case Involving Navy, Rare Right Whales 

Judge Lisa Godbey Wood peppered attorneys on both sides with questions Thursday. She said she understood the environmentalists’ argument — if the Navy is allowed to go ahead and spend $100 million building the offshore range, would it abandon the project if studies later found training there would put whales at risk?

So far in legal contests between the US Navy and whales, the whales have lost. In 2008, the US Supreme Court overturned protection for whales off the coast of California against the Navy’s use of mid-frequency active (MFA) sonar during large-scale naval training exercises. MFA sonars send intense pulses of noise through the water that can disrupt or injure marine mammals, including whales, nearby.

Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing along the article.