Abstract
The public has until next week to comment on the U.S. Navy's plans to build a long-sought 1700-km2 sonar training facility off the Atlantic coast. The Pentagon says it needs the facility, slated for the southeastern North Carolina shore, to train ships to hunt increasingly quiet submarines. But green groups opposed to the plan say the Navy's draft environmental statement downplays risks to mammals, corals, and fish. The Natural Resources Defense Council wants to factor in a stranding of 36 whales of three species in January 2005 that occurred after Navy sonar exercises roughly 450 km away. But although it hasn't ruled sonar out as a cause, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration doesn't plan to issue a report on the incident until March. The Navy has acknowledged that sonar can harm whales, but the science of mass strandings remains mysterious. A final draft of the statement will also receive comments before the Navy makes a decision on the plans.
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