Judge: Navy Can Train Near Rare Atlantic Whales

Source: Associated Press

Judge: Navy Can Train Near Rare Atlantic Whales
By RUSS BYNUM Associated Press
SAVANNAH, Ga. September 10, 2012 (AP)

The Navy can build a $100 million offshore range for submarine warfare training, despite environmentalists' fears that war games would threaten endangered right whales, a federal judge ruled.

U.S. District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood ruled the Navy took a "hard look" before concluding risks to the rare whales would be minimal at the proposed training site 50 miles off the coast of south Georgia and north Florida. Environmentalists sued to block the project in 2010, saying it's too close to the waters where right whales give birth to their calves each winter.

The groups that sued said Monday they're weighing an appeal. Experts say only about 400 right whales remain, and each death brings the species a significant step closer to extinction.

"They are critically endangered and I think deserve a weight beyond other species," said Sharon Young, marine issues director for the Humane Society of the United States, one of the groups that sued the Navy. "We certainly would never argue to undermine our national defense, but it's also reasonable to ask the military not to jeopardize a species that is just barely hanging on."

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/judge-navy-train-rare-atlantic-whales-17201008