Ocean Sentry
The U.S. Navy wants to increase significantly its training exercises off the West Coast and in the Puget Sound area, but some lawmakers, scientists and environmental groups have demanded a more rigorous review of the plan. The Navy drops bombs, fires missiles and launches torpedoes during training exercises in parts of the Northwest Training Range Complex, which stretches off the coast from Washington to Northern California. The Navy wants to let local sailors do more training close to home.
The range also includes air space in Eastern Washington and Idaho and land in the Puget Sound area.
The Navy plans to increase the number of practice activities it performs each year to 11,000 from the 7,300 it does now. The greatest increase will be for aircraft training at high altitudes.
But some scientists worry that any increase in naval training could hurt a slew of listed and endangered species, including the dwindling southern-resident orca population.
Active sonar is known to terrify and confuse marine mammals, sending them onto beaches or away from their natural habitat, said Ken Balcomb, senior scientist at the Center for Whale Research at Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.
“I’ve seen the terror in the whales,” Balcomb said. “It just scares the bejesus out of them and they try to get away.”
Meanwhile, the proposal’s public-comment period has been extended twice — now until Wednesday — because residents and lawmakers have complained there hasn’t been enough time to wade through the document’s 1,000-plus pages.
Oregon lawmakers sent a letter to the Navy last month asking for the extension, in part because their constituents had concerns about impacts on coastal fisheries, tourism and marine mammals.
In a separate project, the Navy plans to increase the size of several areas, including in Puget Sound and off the Washington coast, used for testing new technology. Some residents and experts also object to that plan as well.
(From seattletimes.nwsource.com)
