Navy Tests Delayed to Protect Marine Life

A federal court judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the detonation of underwater explosives west of the Channel Islands to test ship hull strength, after ruling that the blasts would irreparably harm marine life in the area.

U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson in Los Angeles granted a preliminary injunction to stop testing until the case is decided at civil trial later this year.

The judge concluded in a written decision that “plaintiffs have shown a near-certain likelihood of prevailing in their claims” that the Navy and the National Marine Fisheries Service violated federal law in approving the tests.

“The judge has decided to uphold environmental laws in the face of the Navy’s wish to conduct these tests in the worst possible ecological area in the continental United States,” said Richard Kendall, lead attorney for five environmental groups that sued to block the tests.

Navy officials had no immediate comment Tuesday afternoon.

Testing was scheduled to start this week about 20 miles off Navy-owned San Nicolas Island and about 85 miles southwest of the Point Mugu Naval Air Weapons Station, where the tests were to be monitored.

Wilson agreed with the environmental groups’ attorneys, who argued that the Navy had filed no valid environmental report, had failed to examine alternate test sites and had not adequately protected marine mammals.

Navy officials have acknowledged that the testing could result in the deaths of a small number of marine mammals but have insisted that the tests are environmentally safe.

But environmental groups say that 22 species of marine mammals--including seals and sea lions--would be killed, injured or harassed by the tests.

The so-called ship-shock tests would involve the detonation of underwater explosives as large as 10,000 pounds each to determine the strength of the Navy’s new Aegis-class destroyers, the sturdiness of their electronics equipment and overall crew survivability under simulated battle conditions.