(From www2.tbo.com) Washington- A federal appeals court ruled Friday in favor of environmentalists seeking protection for the endangered North Atlantic right whale, giving those activists a victory in a long-running fight to prevent collisions of the giant mammals with ships.
The decision, from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, overturns a lower court decision that declined to order the U.S. Coast Guard to perform a review of the ways that cargo-ship traffic might endanger the whales. It marked the latest twist in a yearslong battle over whales and ships off the East Coast.
Environmental activists want ships to slow down in areas where whales congregate or go around them, but a proposed rule aimed at setting speed limits in whale areas has been held up by Bush administration officials for more than a year.